The Switzerland-based Barry Callebaut Group has joined a host of industry experts in expressing concerns about ‘a potential cocoa shortage by 2020’, which has contributed to cocoa prices rising a staggering 25% in the past year.
Barry Callebaut revealed that it sold more than 1.7 million tonnes of chocolate in 2013/14 - a year-on-year increase of more than 11.8% - and said in its annual report that it ‘expects to continue to outperform the global chocolate market’.
But it also reiterated fears raised by Mars Inc of a global shortage of cocoa and the impact that could have on the individual consumer.
Fiona Dawson, the then-UK president of Mars chocolate, warned in 2012 that the global cocoa sector ‘may suffer a 1 million tonne shortage by 2020 because of the increasing economic and environmental pressures on cocoa farms’, adding: ‘It’s just not sustainable.’ Last year, Kennedy’s Confection magazine editor said the future of chocolate could be threatened altogether by that date - and added that the ‘chocolate bar of the future’ would be made with so little cocoa it will be ‘nothing like the chocolate we know and love’.
Barry Callebaut said cocoa prices rose in 2013/14 from £1,600 per tonne to more than £2,000 per tonne - despite ‘strong’ crops from major regions including Ghana.
Barry Callebaut revealed that it sold more than 1.7 million tonnes of chocolate in 2013/14 - a year-on-year increase of more than 11.8% - and said in its annual report that it ‘expects to continue to outperform the global chocolate market’.
But it also reiterated fears raised by Mars Inc of a global shortage of cocoa and the impact that could have on the individual consumer.
Fiona Dawson, the then-UK president of Mars chocolate, warned in 2012 that the global cocoa sector ‘may suffer a 1 million tonne shortage by 2020 because of the increasing economic and environmental pressures on cocoa farms’, adding: ‘It’s just not sustainable.’ Last year, Kennedy’s Confection magazine editor said the future of chocolate could be threatened altogether by that date - and added that the ‘chocolate bar of the future’ would be made with so little cocoa it will be ‘nothing like the chocolate we know and love’.
Barry Callebaut said cocoa prices rose in 2013/14 from £1,600 per tonne to more than £2,000 per tonne - despite ‘strong’ crops from major regions including Ghana.