"We did not see the benefits (of falling cocoa prices) so much in the first-half. We are going to get the benefits now," Rajeev Bakshi said.The 51 per cent subsidiary of Britain's Cadbury Schweppes Plc is the main player in India's chocolate confectionary market with a 70 per cent market share. Nestle India is the other major player. Chocolates accounted for about 64 per cent of Cadbury India sales in 1999 while 12 per cent was from sugar confectionary. The balance came from food drinks. "Top line growth, lower material prices and manufacturing cost efficiencies," will be profit growth drivers for Cadbury in 2000, Bakshi told Reuters in an interview. Cadbury's net sales grew to Rs 2.46 billion ($54million) in the first-half of 2000 from Rs 2.10 billion in the same previous year period. Adjusted profit after tax rose to Rs 191 million from Rs 138 million.

Analysts expect Cadbury to report a net profit growth in the region of 30 per cent to 40 per cent in 2000. Bakshi did not discuss profit forecasts. Cadbury is expected to derive the maximum advantage of falling international cocoa prices only in the second-half of 2000 as new contracts priced at much lower rates come into effect. Cocoa forms about 35 per cent of Cadbury's total material cost including packaging. CSCE cocoa future prices are down about 28 per cent in the last one year. On Tuesday, September futures ended at $821 a tonne. Bakshi said Cadbury was meeting about 40 per cent of its cocoa requirements from imports. The rest is sourced domestically. Bakshi said the biggest task for India's Rs 6 billion ($132 million) chocolate confectionary market was to boost growth. India's chocolate confectionary market, currently estimated to be about 21,000 tonnes in the world's second most populous country, had shown compounded annual growth rate between 10-12 per cent in the last five years, he added.Chocolates are consumed by an estimated 60 million people out of a population of more than one billion, Bakshi said.

The company plans to introduce low unit packs, expand distribution and launch mass market brands to expand the chocolate confectionary market. Bakshi said the domestic chocolate confectionary market appeared to be showing a slight slowdown in growth but he remained positive over the long term. "The entire fast moving consumer goods category is seeing sluggish growth," he said.

In Wednesday afternoon trade, the stock was little changed at Rs 636 on the Bombay Stock Exchange in a flat market. Cadbury's shares have risen 27 per cent this year compared to a 15 per cent fall in the bellwether 30-share Sensex in the same period.