Hamburg, July 6 - Germany's second quarter 2009 cocoa grind fell 15.3 percent on the year to 75,430 tonnes, the association of German confectionery producers BDSI said on Monday.
This followed a fall of 21.3 percent on the year in the first quarter of 2009.
No one was available for comment at the BDSI.
"A fall had been expected because of low physical demand from chocolate makers as the economic crisis is apparently having an impact on chocolate and confectionery sales," one German cocoa trader commented.
East Europe and Russia have been hit hard by the economic slowdown and both were important markets for German semi-finished cocoa products, the trader said.