While the rest of the world in the past 12 months saw declining figures in the sales of high-end goods, China’s market continued to blossom.

And as well as its developing desire for brand names, the nation appears at the same time to be growing a very sweet tooth.

China’s chocolate market — driven by “designer” chocolate makers such as Belgium-based brand Godiva — was worth around seven billion yuan (740 million euros) in 2009 and is expected to grow by 11 percent through to 2011.