Many Australians have a sweet tooth and indulge in consuming lollies, toffees, éclairs and caramels. A study by Roy Morgan Research released on Tuesday found that 39 per cent or 7.2 million Aussies aged 14 and above ate sweets in the last four weeks.

Allen's Snakes Alive is the favourite brand, according to 19 per cent of the respondents. It was followed by Natural Confectionary Company Jellies which includes a collection of Snakes and Jelly Babies, which 14 per cent favoured.

The reasons cited by the survey respondents why they had sweets were to enjoy different tastes, textures and colours (22 per cent), to make them happy (19 per cent), to kill boredom or to have something to nibble on while performing a boring task (17 per cent).

"These results open the way for marketers to more effectively promote to their target market by taking advantage of the triggers for their brands' consumption. They could also inform new product development by allowing sweet producers to tailor new products to the reasons people eat them," Roy Morgan Research Industry Communications Director Norman Morris said in a statement.

Among the brands covered in the Roy Morgan study are Allen's, Skittles, Mentos, The Natural Confectionary Company, Pascall and Chupa Chups, which all use sugar as one of the key ingredients to manufacture their sweets.

A report by Bloomberg said that while global sugar demand will be driven by Asia, partly to population growth, the per capital consumption of Chinese and Indians is below the 34 kilogrammes average of developed countries that belong to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

China's per capita sugar consumption is just 11 kilogrammes and India is 21 kilogrammes.

The report said that Australia, Brazil and Thailand would keep driving global sugar output to meet rising demand both for food preparation and to produce ethanol. Brazil is the world's largest sugar exporter.