Top 10 Global Chocolate Manufacturers

With chocolate being hailed as the best brain food in one of the recent studies, where it links the country's chocolate consumption and the number of Nobel Prize winners that country has created, here’s a list of the top brands that manufacture chocolate.

Kraft Foods Inc, which recently changed its name to Mondelēz International, so that Kraft Foods focuses on the North American foods business whereas Mondelēz International focuses on the global snacks business, tops the list with a net sales of $19,965 million. Mondelēz International makes Toblerone and Cadbury Dairy Milk

Mars Inc, makers of the famous Mars, Twix and Bounty comes next with a net sales of $16,200 million. Mars operates in six business segments: chocolate, petcare, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, Food, Drinks, and Symbioscience.

Nestlé S.A. is a Swiss multinational nutritional and health-related consumer goods company headquartered in Switzerland. It is the largest food company in the world measured by revenues and as of 2011 its net sales stood at $12,808 million. It’s known for Kit Kat and Smarties chocolates and for its brand of Nescafé coffee.

The Ferrero SpA group, best known for their spherical chocolate filled with hazelnuts called the Ferrero Rocher is next with a net sales of $9,612 million. Ferrero SpA is a private company owned by the Ferrero family and has been described as one of the world's most secretive firms. The group also produces the famour Nutella brand of chocolate spreads.

Perhaps one of the most recognizable brands in chocolate, Hershey’s is next with net sales of $6,112 million. Hershey is one of the oldest chocolate companies in the United States, and reportedly an American icon for its chocolate bar. Hershey's products are sold in about sixty countries worldwide.

Talking about chocolates, Lindt & Sprüngli AG cannot be far behind. The company clocked a net sales of $2,796 million. The group also has eight chocolate cafés in Australia and are planning in the earliest of stages for the first United States chocolate café in Wrentham, MA.

Established in 1903, August Storck KG is a German sweets producer with headquarters in Berlin, with a net sales of $2,205 million.The initial purpose of the company was to manufacture all products by hand and the founder, August Storck, began with three employees, a cooking kettle and a panning kettle. They are the makers of Werther’s Original and Merci.

Turkey’s Yildiz Holding started in 1944, which acquired Godiva Chocolatier, clocked a net sales of $2,095 million. With 54 factories, 9 of which are in foreign countries, Yildiz Holding employs a workforce of 24,400 and produces a range of products including biscuits, chocolate, edible oil, dairy products, cullinary products, baby food and packaging materials.

Japan’s Meiji Co with net sales of $1,791 million is next. Initially established as a dairy company in 1917, became Meiji Co., Ltd.in 2009 with the JV of Meiji Seika Kaisha, Ltd. and Meiji Dairies Corporation which now sees the food and healthcare businesses. Meiji also owns the United States cookie manufacturer D.F. Stauffer Biscuit Company based in Pennsylvania.

The Arcor Group is an Argentine food company specialized in confectionery, founded on July 5, 1951. The group is the world’s largest producer of candies and the largest exporter of confectionery of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru. It clocked a net sales of $1,716 million.