SChocolate fans may be frightened at the sight. The price for a ton of raw cocoa on the raw materials exchange in London recently climbed steeply – to a record high of almost 5,500 euros. For comparison: at the beginning of January the price was under 4,000 euros and in February last year it was under 2,500 euros.
The most important ingredient for chocolate is more expensive than ever. Consumers in Germany also have to expect that they will soon have to dig deeper into their pockets for the popular sweet.
“A kilo of cocoa is almost three euros more expensive than it was a year ago. Everyone can calculate for themselves what this means for the production costs of a 100 gram chocolate bar, which contains between 35 and 70 percent cocoa, but we are currently assessing the situation as a whole,” says a spokesman for the chocolate manufacturer Ritter Sport. The company does not want to say anything about possible price increases for antitrust reasons.
Supply is becoming scarcer
Solveig Schneider, deputy managing director of the Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI), explains: “Increased raw material prices and wages can lead to cost increases, which could tend to be passed on to the consumer.”
Michele Buck, head of the US company Hershey, one of the largest confectionery manufacturers in the world, did not rule out an increase in prices. “Given the current situation with cocoa prices, we will use every tool in our toolbox, including pricing, to manage the business,” she said in mid-February when presenting the financial figures. Alexander von Maillot, head of Germany at the Swiss food giant Nestlé, recently made similar comments.
The price of cocoa has recently risen so sharply primarily because supply in the growing countries is becoming increasingly scarce. Ivory Coast and Ghana account for 60 percent of global cocoa production. Climate change is having a significant impact on cultivation. According to the environmental organization WWF, more frequent extreme weather events such as long periods of drought, heavy rain and floods have damaged the quality of cocoa, reduced yields or completely destroyed harvests.
There is also a danger from a plant virus
Longer periods of rain also lead to the spread of plant diseases such as CSSVD. The virus, spread by aphids, causes cocoa trees to die. According to Kerstin Weber, environmental scientist at WWF, 17 percent of all cultivated areas in Ghana are already affected, and CSSVD is also spreading to Ivory Coast.
Since cocoa trees are not resistant, the only effective treatment is to cut down infected trees and plant new ones, says Weber. The virus can spread so quickly because cocoa is usually grown in monocultures.
The confectionery industry complains about the sharp rise in costs. According to the BDSI, EU sugar was 72 percent more expensive in 2023 than in the previous year, cocoa butter increased by 52 percent and cocoa by 43 percent. The most recent developments are not yet fully taken into account here. How much will chocolate cost in the future? Food companies such as Mondelez (“Milka”) simply say that setting end consumer prices is the responsibility of food retailers.
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