Ferrero launches chocolate bars hot on the heels of Nutella Biscuits and Ferrero Rocher ice-creams.

Ferrero, the Italian confectionery giant known around the world for Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, has unveiled a new range of chocolate bars.

The large-format Ferrero Rocher bars come in three flavours - milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate with 55 per cent cocoa content - and will go on sale in Italy in October.

Ferrero says it has taken a team of 50 people three years to perfect the recipes for the chocolate bars which contain "delicate domes" reminiscent of the famed sweets.

• Italy can't get enough of Ferrero's Nutella Biscuits

The company hopes for a taste of the world's chocolate bar market which, according to Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, is worth about €578 million.

• Nutella maker Ferrero wants a scoop of Italy's ice-cream market

Ferrero's debut in the chocolate bar market comes a few months after it introduced Italy to Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Rocher Dark and Raffaello ice cream sticks and Estathé Ice lollies.

The company's latest venture follows the runaway success of its Nutella Biscuits, launched in late 2019, which sold 47 million packets in its first year to become the biggest-selling product in the Italian biscuit market.