Swiss chocolate manufacturers made record sales of 1.53 billion Swiss francs (about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars) last year as a result of a marked increase in exports, Swiss Radio International reported on Wednesday.

Swiss chocolate exports rose by more than 8 percent to 98,727 tons last year and account for 58.7 percent of the total Swiss production, according to the report.

Neighboring Germany remains Switzerland's main chocolate export market ahead of France, Britain and the United States.

Swiss chocolate was also quite successful in Belgium, Italy, Norway, Poland and Sweden, as well as in Brazil and Canada.

However, figures were less sweet on the domestic front. Domestic chocolate sales in volume terms remained flat and grew only marginally to 69,523 tons last year.

Demand at home stagnated and imported products now amount to 30 percent of all chocolate consumed in Switzerland, according to the Union of Swiss Chocolate Manufacturers.

Source:Xinhua