Finland’s Sugar Tax Sweetens Candy Consumption

The sweet tax did not bring a sustained dip in confectionery sales.

December 26, 2013

HELSINKI, Finland – In 2011, Finland introduced a tax on confectionery products, with an eye toward lowering candy consumption. Two years later, the sweet tax has yet to live up to its promise, Yle reports.

While initially, sales of confectionery products dropped slightly, long-term sales have returned to pre-tax levels. “Sales may have gone down slightly in 2012, just by a few percent,” said Matti Himberg, who manages a K-citymarket Jumbo. “This year we haven’t really seen any impact.”

Yle found that shop owners around the country report similar incidents, such as sales of loose, bag-your-own candy declining 5% to 10%. For larger candy sizes, including bars and bagged sweets, the close to 30% bump in price put a dent in sales.

But this year, retailers anticipated holiday sales to be at the same level as 2012. The average resident of Finland consumes around 30 pounds of confectionery products each year. Around 60% of the candy is made in Finland, but the sweet tax has increased imported candy by more than 10%.

The government claimed the sugar tax would improve the health of Finland resident, but that hasn’t seemed to be the case. However, the health of the state budget has significantly improved by bringing in around 78 million euros ($106 million) to the state coffers. By including the tax on soda and ice cream, which also has a sugar tax, the Finnish government has received 203 million euros ($278 million) in 2013 alone.

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