Six multinational firms together account for 85 percent of the vast market: Hershey, Mars, Philip Morris, Nestle, Cadbury and Ferrero.
Producer countries like Brazil have turned into major consumers, while others like Vietnam or Indonesia are moving into cocoa growing.
“In Brazil, the market is going through the roof,” said the master chocolate maker Stephane Bonnat.
“Production-side, the country has shifted these past six years towards fine, high quality cocoa. On the consumer side, I had sold my whole stock of chocolate bars within half an hour at the first fair in Salvador de Bahia in July.”
Bonnat works with 42 small-scale farms around the world. Like him, many chocolatiers now foster direct ties with cocoa-growers, who also take part in fairs, Douce explained.
“Different worlds have come together, and it has helped to vastly improve the quality of both cocoa and chocolate,” she said.
Some 200 chefs from around the world are set to converge on Paris for the 18th edition of the fair, which draws some 100,000 visitors each year.