Nation’s chocolatiers believe delicacy deserves same protection as Italy’s Parma ham or France’s champagne

Belgian chocolate makers will meet regional governments from next month to decide how Belgium might apply to the EU to protect Belgian chocolates.

The industry believes its renowned pralines should have similar protection to that enjoyed by French champagne or Italy’s Parma ham and want the term “Belgian chocolate” to be Belgium’s exclusive preserve. They also want to crack down on foreign rivals dressing up their products as “Belgian style” or from a “Belgian recipe”.

Copycats, they say, eat into sales and undermine a stamp of quality built up over the century since Jean Neuhaus invented the hard-shelled, cream-filled chocolate, the praline, in 1912.

“What makes us sad is that very often the copies are not up to the standard of the originals,” said Jos Linkens, chief executive of Neuhaus.

“If top chocolatiers around the world copied us, perhaps we would be happy. We don’t want the image of quality to suffer,” said Linkens, who is also president of Belgian biscuit, chocolate and confectionery federation Choprabisco.

Belgium boasts more than 200 chocolate firms and over 2,000 chocolate stores and museums, tours and workshops, such as the Brussels museum of cocoa and chocolate. Exports of Belgian pralines rose just 1% between 2007 and 2011, but shot up 60% in Asia and 82% in Africa. Sales to Asia in 2011 were three times their level a decade earlier. Individual chocolate makers talk of expansion in China and India last year of up to 50%.

And there is yet more scope for growth, with the average Chinese person eating less than 100g of chocolate per year against between 6-10kg for Europeans, Linkens said.

The surging demand in new markets has left foreign producers eager for a share of the market, tempting some to claim they too are making Belgian chocolates.

Guy Gallet, secretary general of Choprabisco, has a crate-load of “Belgian chocolate” boxes he and travelling Belgian executives have found on their travels. They include examples from Canada, China, Hungary, Ireland and Malaysia.