While there is no indication the world is not about to run out of chocolate any day soon, there are concerns from manufacturers and suppliers that the current high prices and shortage of cocoa beans will push up costs further and, in some cases, restrict...
UPDATE: TUESDAY 26 MARCH 2024: Cocoa prices continued to rise this week. Earlier today the price of cocoa beans smashed through the $10,000 a ton for the first time in the futures market after posting gains all week - with chocolate makers passing on...
Love may be in the air this Valentine's Day – but so is the eye-watering price of cocoa on the market, making the cost of the key ingredient in chocolate more expensive than ever, according to analysts.
Cacao fruit, or cocoa fruit, is drawn from the same pod as cocoa beans. Normally thrown away, the juice, pulp and peel of the pod can be used as a sweetener in a range of products. Across Europe and beyond, cacao fruit has appeared recently in a range...
The African Platform for Sustainable Cocoa, which brings together civil society cocoa platforms from Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, has issued a statement alleging the cocoa industry is refusing to pay at the current market price plus the Living Income...
The country’s cocoa production sector is under serious threat with climate change, disease, moribund farms, overaged tree stock, an aging farmer population, and an acute labour shortage, just some of the issues affecting productivity … that is why we...
The family-owned company has been processing cocoa beans into cocoa mass, butter, and powder at its own exclusively organic plant in Winterthur, Switzerland, since June 2022 and says an assessment carried out this month shows there have been no pesticide...
ofi (olam food ingredients), a global leader in naturally good food and beverage ingredients, says it has substantially advanced towards the climate goals stated in its Cocoa Compass sustainability report – but issued a call for the EU to work with other...
Farmer organizations will be guaranteed a higher price for cocoa sales on Fairtrade terms, as part of foundation’s strategy towards enabling living incomes it said. Changes will come into effect October 2019.
Cocoa trader Touton has partnered with Ghanaian government agency Cocobod to curb deforestation in Ghana, where cocoa is the main driver of 3.2% of protected forest loss each year.
Nestlé Cocoa Plan has come out top in a report by Stop the Traffik and Baptist World Aid Australia assessing the progress made by chocolate companies and certification organizations in tackling child labor in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
Chocolate manufacturers can drive growth in the premium space with heat resistant chocolate nibbles and clean-label Belgian caramel chocolate without added flavors, claims supplier Barry Callebaut.
The chocolate industry should embrace certification to improve the livelihoods of farmers or risk losing a generation of cocoa growers, according to the head of a Fairtrade cocoa cooperative in the Ivory Coast.
French-based chocolate and ingredients supplier Cémoi has developed a color-coded sensory analysis chart that it claims will enable customers to create personalized tastes.
SunOpta plans to increase its cocoa processing capacity with a new facility in Middenmeer, Netherlands as it looks to grow its organic and specialty cocoa business to serve the specialty chocolate industry.
A consecutive deficit in 2012/13 is set to move cocoa prices higher as supply struggles to meet rising demand for chocolate products in Asia, according to financial services group Rabobank.
Finnish company Fazer has set a target to certify its entire cocoa supply by 2017 to ensure its cocoa comes from traceable sources and is free from the worst forms of child labour.
Cargill’s drive to secure a good quality and sustainable supply of cocoa beans is filtering down to famers in Cote d'Ivoire as it has just made premium payments totalling more than US $2.2m.
There will be no dramatic drop in cocoa prices in the coming months as forecast by numerous speculators hoping to cash in on a downward trend, reports a cocoa market specialist.
Nestlé said it has increased its donations of disease-resistant cocoa trees to farmers in Ivory Coast in a bid to boost the quality of the beans that are produced in the country.
Confectionery giant Mars predicts a major cocoa shortage by 2020 and reveals harmonization of global cocoa certification programmes to ensure meaningful income hikes for farmers is one of its sustainable cocoa project goals.
Lacklustre demand for cocoa in Europe and North America and expectations of an average crop next season will see cocoa prices remain steady over the coming months, claims a market analyst.
Leading cocoa processor Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has announced it is kick-starting its Ivory Coast sustainable cocoa initiative – Serap – in Indonesia in a bid to boost cocoa quality from growers in that region.
Ivory Coast’s cocoa trade has been normalised, but uncertainly remains about the mid-crop, and and all eyes are now on the weather for the main crop, to be harvested this autumn, notes commodities specialist Rabobank it its latest review.
Ivory Coast cocoa exports are unlikely to resume by this week, said Mintel, in response to reports that the country will start shipping the commodity from the beginning of May.
Barry Callebaut, in a bid to meet its strategic need to diversify its cocoa origin and boost the viability of cocoa production in Malaysia, has announced a new research programme.
Another milestone has been achieved in the UTZ certified sustainable cocoa programme, with the first-ever shipment of cocoa beans from Ghana that meets that standard’s economic, environmental and social criteria.
A novel cocoa cultivation method and a new approach to fermentation are resulting in cocoa beans with enhanced quality, claims industrial chocolate supplier, Barry Callebaut.
Olam International is planning to invest $43.5m to build its first, large greenfield cocoa processing plant in the Ivory Coast as well as additional primary processing and warehouse facilities.
Recent cocoa bean price volatility is due in large part to hedge funds attracted by quick returns taking short-term positions on the commodity, according to a leading analyst.
Barry Callebaut is a step closer to boasting about the antidepressant properties of cocoa on its product labels after a study funded by the company found that it could have a mood-lifting effect.
London cocoa prices hit a 23-year high at the end of December, but emerging questions about consumer demand could see prices fall in 2009, according to the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO).
Troubles for West African cocoa supplies look set to continue following reports that the harmattan, a harsh, crop-damaging wind, has begun to sweep in from the Sahara.
With sustainability a buzz word for today's confectionery makers, a symposium that kicked off in Ghana today will attempt to get to grips with current issues impacting sustainability in Africa's cocoa supply chain.
Costs for cocoa have fallen from a peak of $3000 per tonne in July, to $2551.33 on Monday, but reports of the damaging black pod disease in Ivory Coast could drive prices upwards, compounded by political uncertainty that may see chocolate buyers eager...
Focusing further on cocoa bean sourcing and processing, Zurich-based Barry Callebaut spins-off Chococam, the last of its consumer activities in Africa, to South African food firm Tiger Brands.
Agricultural firm Cargill has started construction of a new cocoa
processing facility in Ghana, in an expansion move designed to meet
increasing global demand for cocoa products.
The International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) has revised its gloomy
cocoa estimate of a 5,000 tonne deficit to predict a global surplus
of 80,000 tonnes of cocoa in the coming year, assuring
manufacturers of a steady supply.
Democrats Tom Harkin and Eliot L. Engel wrote a hard-hitting piece
in the LA Times on Monday about the human cost of the chocolate
trade, but the cocoa industry has hit back by reaffirming its
commitment to responsible farming.
Barry Callebaut, the world's leading supplier of chocolate to the
confectionery industry, has reported a 6 per cent fall in first
quarter sales revenues to CHF1.15bn (€0.79bn) as squeezed margins
bit into its bottom line. The...
