Denmark is maintaining the chocolate and sugar tax under a new four-party coalition led by a third term for Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
The tax was due to be removed from 1 July under the previous government but that was before early elections were called in March and a new regime put in place.
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The plan to stick with the chocolate and sugar tax was buried in a 77-page document setting out the coalition’s policies.
A brief line read: “The government will, among other things, provide financing for the tax reform and the described corporate tax relief, cf. ‘A Strong Business Sector’, by maintaining the chocolate and sugar tax….”
Following the formation of the new government in June, it now consists of a minority coalition of Frederiksen’s Social Democrats (Socialdemokratiet) party, along with the Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre), the Green Left (Socialistisk Folkeparti) and the Moderates (Moderaterne).
In August, a spokesperson for the Venstre Party confirmed with Just Food that plans were in place by the former collation government to abolish both the confectionery tax and a similar one for coffee from the current levels of around 25%.
The coffee tax was introduced in 1930, while the chocolate tax has been in place for more than 100 years.
Cuts were to be introduced in a phased manner starting with a 50% reduction in 2026 and a total removal in 2027, the Venstre Party spokesperson said in August.
Just Food has asked Denmark’s tax ministry for clarification on the status of the coffee tax under the new regime and for more details on the plans for the chocolate and sugar levies.
The move to stick with the sugar tax is of no real surprise. Annette Zeipel, the CEO of confectionery business Toms Group, had predicted the stance in May.
In an interview with Just Food, Zeipel said: “The moment they announced the election, everything that had not been fully approved in Parliament went on hold. The world has changed since and I think there will be other priorities. Nobody in the industry now expects the sugar tax to be phased out.
“We didn’t expect a huge volume boost from it but, of course, there was a lot of work preparing for it because it would shift the whole relative structure of price points for certain products in the market.”
Zeipel provided some additional comments in a statement today (15 June): “We have long been planning for the abolition of the sugar and chocolate tax and have invested significant resources in preparing for it.
“When the framework conditions are changed so late in the process, it results in additional work and adjustments. This underscores how crucial stable and predictable conditions are if we are to plan long term and invest in development and innovation.”
