Crop failures in Africa caused cocoa prices to almost triple last year, to a record high of nearly $13,000 per ton. This year, the opposite has happened, with prices halving.
But products with cocoa or chocolate in them have not followed suit at all.
The industry states that producers are still using cocoa beans that were purchased when they were most expensive.
"Even though cocoa prices are falling, they are still at a historically high level," writes Erik Lødding, who is responsible for community and government relations at Marabou owner Mondelez Norden, to TT.
According to Lødding, all major players in the chocolate industry generally buy cocoa on 9-month forward contracts.
“In addition, there is a certain lead time from the producer countries until the raw material is actually used in a factory and then sold in grocery stores,” writes Erik Lødding.
According to Bloomberg, chocolate prices are only expected to fall in the second half of next year.
"The prices the chocolate industry is currently working with are very high and painful. It will take us a while to work through that," Jonathan Parkman, head of agricultural sales at commodities brokerage Marex Group in London, told Bloomberg.
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