SME study: Confectioners' mood and sales expectations are deteriorating
The economic situation remains strained for Austria's confectioneries. The latest economic survey by KMU Forschung Austria for the second quarter of 2026 shows declining sales, a deteriorating business sentiment, and significantly more pessimistic expectations for the coming months. At the same time, many businesses are still planning with stable or even increasing staffing levels. The results are based on feedback from 39 confectionery businesses with a total of 479 employees.
Real sales are declining significantly.
In the first quarter of 2026, confectioners' nominal sales were 1.7 percent below the previous year's level. Since selling prices increased by an average of 3.0 percent at the same time, this resulted in a real decrease in volume of 4.5 percent. The price increases were therefore unable to compensate for the declining demand.
Only 13 percent of businesses reported increased sales, while 40 percent recorded declines. For 47 percent, sales remained unchanged compared to the previous year. This represents a further deterioration compared to the already weak previous year.
Private customers remain the most important market
Private customers remain the most important business segment for confectioneries. Nevertheless, only 19 percent of businesses report increasing sales, while 39 percent experience declines. The business with commercial customers is proving even more challenging. There, only four percent reported sales increases, while 45 percent suffered losses.
Due to the small number of reports, no reliable evaluations are available for public contracting authorities.
Business sentiment deteriorates further
The sentiment barometer also shows no change in trend. In the second quarter of 2026, only seven percent of businesses rated their business situation as good. 58 percent described it as a typical seasonal situation, while 35 percent already considered their situation to be poor.
The balance of positive and negative assessments stands at minus 28 percentage points and has worsened further compared to the previous quarter. This means that the confectionery industry is currently among the sectors with the weakest sentiment within the trade and craft sector.
Sales development remains significantly negative
The difficult trend continued into the second quarter. Only seven percent of businesses were able to increase their sales compared to the same quarter of the previous year. 61 percent reported stable revenues, while 32 percent recorded declines.
Overall, businesses with revenue losses outweigh those with losses by 25 percentage points. While the result is somewhat better than in the immediately preceding quarter, the situation has deteriorated significantly compared to the previous year.
Expectations for autumn are becoming increasingly gloomy.
Companies are particularly cautious in their outlook for the coming months. For the third quarter of 2026, only four percent of businesses expect rising sales. Sixty-four percent anticipate stable development, while 32 percent already expect further declines in revenue.
The balance of expectations is therefore minus 28 percentage points, which is worse than both the previous year and the second quarter of 2026. Pessimism within the industry has thus intensified further.
Personnel planning remains surprisingly stable
Despite the challenging business climate, many confectioneries are still planning to maintain stable staffing levels. Seventeen percent of businesses intend to hire additional employees, 79 percent plan to keep their current number of employees unchanged, and only four percent anticipate staff reductions.
On average, this results in a planned increase in employment of 6.1 percent. While this is slightly below the previous year's figure of 6.6 percent, it signals that many companies want to retain or specifically expand their skilled workforce despite difficult economic conditions.
Assessment: Demand remains the biggest challenge
Current economic data shows that Austrian confectioneries continue to suffer from weak consumer demand. Price adjustments are insufficient to compensate for declining sales volumes. At the same time, sentiment within the businesses is deteriorating, and expectations for the coming months are also significantly more pessimistic.
On a positive note, many companies continue to invest in their workforce, thus banking on a medium- to long-term recovery. Whether this optimism is fulfilled will depend largely on whether consumer purchasing power and demand for high-quality, handcrafted confectionery products recover.