Publish Date: October 2026
Updated Tariff & Recession Risk Analysis and Forecasts
The 2026 Non-Chocolate Candy Making Market Report covers the $11 billion industry which operates with a diverse competitive structure spanning multinational corporations with extensive distribution networks, mid-sized specialists with strong regional presence, and premium artisanal producers focusing on distinctive offerings and production values. Consumer preferences support continued demand for nostalgic classics while driving growth in premium segments featuring natural ingredients, innovative flavor combinations, and functional benefits. Manufacturers face significant operational challenges balancing production efficiency, ingredient cost volatility, packaging innovation requirements, and tariff considerations affecting specialized ingredient sourcing and international market access. Successful companies are differentiating through proprietary formulation expertise, specialized production technologies creating distinctive textures and appearances, innovative packaging enhancing convenience or freshness, and strategic brand positioning addressing specific consumer segments in a category where sensory experience, emotional connection, and increasingly ingredient quality significantly influence purchasing decisions.
Non-Chocolate Candy Making Industry Description
Non-Chocolate Candy Making produces sugar-based confectionery products such as hard candies, chewy candies, gummies, caramels, taffies, and licorice. Companies in this industry cook sugar solutions with various flavorings, colors, and additional ingredients to create distinctive textures and taste profiles through specialized cooking and forming processes. Manufacturing operations include sugar cooking, pulling, extruding, molding, coating, and packaging in consumer-ready containers or bulk formats for various distribution channels. These businesses serve both branded retail markets and private label production, creating popular treats consumed as snacks, desserts, and impulse purchases, with products ranging from traditional candies to innovative new flavors, sugar-free alternatives, and premium artisanal offerings that appeal to diverse consumer preferences.
NAICS Code: 31134
Number of Companies: 461
Number of Plants / Facilities: 488
Total Employees: 24,282
Market Size: $11 billion
TARIFF IMPACT (Summer 2025 – Download Report for Updated Analysis)
This report has in-depth analysis on the recent US tariff changes on material costs, quantifying import dependencies, tariff exposure rates, and key source countries for the non-chocolate candy making sector.
Estimated Tariff Cost: $270 million
Relative Tariff Impact: MODERATE
Non-Chocolate Candy Making Report Format
The 2026 U.S. Non-Chocolate Candy Making Market Report is 63 pages of deep insights into the trends, dynamics, and forecasts shaping the industry. This market report is utilized by professionals to gain a in-depth understanding of the sector for business strategy, planning, forecasting, benchmarking, industry analysis, valuations, identifying organizational inefficiencies, financial analysis, and more.
This report covers more than 100 statistical data sets with historical trend data from 2017 to 2025, and 2026 and 2030 forecasts. The report includes market size & growth, in-depth OPEX analysis on 26 categories, extensive financial analysis, extensive forecasts, inventory trends & analysis, composition of balance sheets, numerous industry segmentations, competitive intensity analysis, production material costs, profit margin analysis, state statistics, plant capacity analysis, workforce composition, inflation trend benchmarks, wage analysis, revenue per employee trends, and numerous other data sets.
Below are a few page images from the report and check out the table of contents for a complete overview.
Report Table of Contents
Explore the below table of contents to understand the comprehensive insights in the report and why thousands of professionals and executives count on Kentley Insights for their industry research.
For this report, the core data is sourced from comprehensive business, operational, and economic surveys conducted by government and private institutions and filled out by a statistically significant number of companies in the non-chocolate candy making industry. Our forecasts take into account historical trends, industry dynamics, and our macroeconomic projections.
1-2 – Market Report Overview & Contents
3 – Market Overview
– Data Sources & Methodology
– Sector Definition & Examples
– Market Commentary
4 – Report Synopsis – Revenue & Growth
5 – Report Synopsis – Costs & Profitability
SECTION ONE
REVENUE & GROWTH
7 – Market Size Details
– Industry Revenues, Companies, & Facilities
– Analysis 2017-2025
– 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
8 – Growth Benchmarks
– Sales per Company and Plant
– Analysis 2017-2025
– 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
9 – Product Lines Revenue
10 – BCG Matrix – Income vs. Revenue Growth
11 – Total Industry Sales by Month & Year (2021-2025)
12 – Inventory Value by Month & Year (2021-2025)
13 – Months of Inventory (2021-2025)
14 – Sector Revenue by Segments
– Business Concentration, Size, & Structure
15 – Market Size by State
– Market Size and Rankings
16 – Market Size as a % of State GDP
17 – Sales as a % of State Manufacturing
18 – Market Segmentation by Business Size
19 – Market Segmentation by Business Size
– Business Size Segments – 1-4, 5-9, 10-20, 21-50, 51-100, 101-250, & 250+ employees
– Companies, Facilities, Sales, Employees & Payroll
20 – Segmentation by Concentration (Top 50 Companies)
– Concentration Segments – Top 4, 5-8, 9-20, & 21-50 companies
– Companies, Facilities, Sales, Employees & Payroll
21 – Market Share of Top 50 Companies
22 – Subsector Market Share of Top 50 Companies
23 – Segmentation by Business Structure
– Business Structure Segments – C-Corporations, S-Corporations, Partnerships, & Sole Proprietorships
– Companies, Facilities, Sales, Employees & Payroll
24 – Revenue per Company by State
25 – Revenue per Company by Segments
26 – Revenue per Facility by State
27 – Revenue per Facility by Segment
28 – Subsector Market Size & Growth
29 – Subsector Sales per Company & Plant
30 – 5-Year Consolidation Analysis
31 – Employment Consolidation Analysis
32 – Subsector Consolidation Analysis
– Number of Companies & Facilities
33 – Subsector Consolidation Analysis
– Facilities & Employees per Company
COST, CAPITAL & FINANCIALS
35 – Profitability & Financial Ratio Analysis
Page 36 – Balance Sheet Metrics
– Assets and Liabilities indexed to industry revenue at 100
– 16 Current & Non-Current Assets Categories
– 15 Short-term, Long-term Liabilities, & Net Worth
37 – OPEX
– Industry OPEX Analysis
– 2017-2025 Trends, 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
38 – OPEX by Company & Plant
– OPEX per Company & Plant
– 2017-2025 Trends, 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
Page 39 – OPEX Detail
– 6 Employee Expense Categories
– 8 Cost of Material Categories
– 6 Buildings and Equipment Categories
– 8 Other Operating Expense Categories
-Inventory Breakdown: finished goods, work-in-progress, materials and supplies
40 – Production Material Costs & Tariff Analysis
– Top Production Material Costs Breakdown
– Industry & Material Tariff Analysis – % of costs, import %, tariff costs, source countries
41 – Producer Pricing Index
– 2017-2025 Trends, 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
– Monthly PPI Figures for the Past 4 Years
42 – Plant Utilization & Hours
– Plant Utilization Rate
– Plant Operational Hours per Week
– 2022-2025 Historical Figures by Quarter
43 – Reasons for Non-Full Production
– 7 Categories Quarterly Survey Results for Past 2 Years
44 – Productivity & Employment
– Revenue per Employee
– Total Number of Employees
– Employees per Company
– 2017-2025 Trends, 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
45 – Employee Productivity by Segments
46 – Employee Productivity by State
47 –Subsector Sales & Payroll per Employee
48 – Payroll
– Payroll per Employee, Company, & Plant
– 2017-2025 Trends, 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
49 – Payroll per Company by Segments
50 – Payroll per Plant by Segments
51 – Payroll per Employee by Segments
52 – Payroll per Employee by State
53 – Employee Composition
– % of Employees for 27 Job Categories
54 – Job Categorization Pay Ranges
– Pay Bands – Bottom 10% & 25%, Mean, Top 25% & 10%
55 – Top 20 Jobs Breakdown
56 – Top 20 Jobs Pay
– Pay Bands
57 – Employees per Company by Segments
58 – Employees per Plant by Segments
59 – Facilities per Company by Segments
60 – Total Employment by State
61 – Population to Every Employee by State
62 – Employees per Facility by State
63 – Overview of Kentley Insights
Download a Sample Report
Below is a free sample report download. The 2026 Non-Chocolate Candy Making Market Report has the same layout and data sets as the sample report.
Product Lines, Materials, and Jobs Covered in Report
PRODUCT LINES
Nonchocolate-type confectionery products, made and packaged for shipment not retailed at manufacturing establishment
Chewing gum, bubble gum, and chewing gum base
Other confectionery-type products
Nonchocolate confectionery manufacturing, nsk, total
Nonchocolate-type confectionery products made from purchased chocolate retailed at manufacturing establishment
MATERIAL COST CATEGORIES
Materials, ingredients, containers, and supplies, nsk
Paper and paperboard products
Cost of all other materials and components, parts, containers, and supplies consumed
Nonchocolate confectionery products
All basic organic and inorganic chemicals, excluding petrochemicals
Beet and cane sugar
Wet corn milling products, including corn sweeteners, corn flour, corn meal and feed, and starch
Plastics products (including packaging, foam products, film, sheet, rod, tube, fabricated shapes, bottles, etc.)
Nuts and nutmeats, including peanuts
Chocolate confectionery products, including coatings; sweetened & unsweetened chocolate powder; and cocoa butter, liquor, and syrup
Aluminum and aluminum-base alloy sheet, plate, foil (including packaging products), and welded tubing
Fats and oils, all types
Fluid milk products and dairy product substitutes
INDUSTRY JOBS ANALYZED
Miscellaneous Food Processing Workers
Laborers and Material Movers, Hand
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
Retail Salespersons
Miscellaneous Production Workers
Industrial Machinery Installation, Repair, and Maintenance Workers
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
Cashiers
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
Building Cleaning Workers
General and Operations Managers
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks
Crushing, Grinding, Polishing, Mixing, and Blending Workers
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers
Office Clerks, General
Chemical Processing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Customer Service Representatives
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