The specialist trade body The Wholesale Confectionery & Tobacco Alliance has announced that it will cease operations from March 31.
In a statement to ProWholesaler, WCTA chief executive John Bowden said: "WCTA has been a strong organisation carrying out trade body initiatives. However, we have recognised difficulties in the overall market and these have affected us particularly strongly as we are such a specialised organisation.
“We could foresee the support for trade bodies changing in the future and decided we needed to carry out a review of the prospects of the WCTA.
“As a result of this review the WCTA will close down from March 31."
The WCTA was created in 1987 through the amalgamation of the British Federation of Wholesale Confectionery and the Wholesale Tobacco Trade Association, bodies which were set up in 1964 and 1902 respectively.
The organisation has around 120 members, many belonging to one of three buying groups, Sugro, Key Lekklerland and Confex. Some members also belong to the FWD, and Philip Jenkins, managing director of Sugro, is on the councils of both organisations.
One of the WCTA’s primary activities is lobbying and it has worked alongside the FWD on several campaigns.
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