As of: February 26, 2024, 5:12 a.m
By: Julia Hanigk
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Many foods have become significantly more expensive this year.
The price of chocolate could also rise due to a cocoa shortage.
Munich – Inflation is driving up food prices.
Also because of climate change, it now seems to be affecting chocolate - or more precisely, cocoa.
The raw material is more scarce and expensive than ever before.
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.
At the beginning of January the price was under 4,000 euros, and in February 2023 it was under 2,500 euros.
Within a year, the price rose by a full 150 percent, only since the beginning of January 2024 it has increased by 50 percent.
Since cocoa is the most important ingredient in chocolate, consumers in Germany must expect that they will soon have to dig deeper into their pockets for the popular sweet.
Chocolate manufacturers such as Hershey, Nestlé and Ritter Sport have commented on increased production costs
A spokesman for the manufacturer Ritter Sport told the
German Press Agency (dpa)
: “A kilo of cocoa is almost three euros more expensive than a year ago.
Everyone can calculate for themselves what this means for the production costs of a 100 gram chocolate bar that contains between 35 and 70 percent cocoa, but we are currently assessing the situation as a whole.”
The deputy managing director of the Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI), Solveig Schneider, added: “Increased raw material prices and wages can lead to cost increases, which could tend to be passed on to the consumer.”
The head of the US company Hershey (KitKat and M&Ms), Michele Buck, said: “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 business figures.
Alexander von Maillot, head of Germany at the Swiss food giant Nestlé, recently made similar comments.
It is still unclear how expensive it will be for customers in the supermarket.
The Mondelez company, known for Milka products, said that setting end-consumer prices was the responsibility of food retailers.
Climate change is having consequences: the supply of cocoa is becoming less and cultivation is becoming more difficult
But it's not just general inflation that's to blame for the chocolate misery.
The problem lies in the offer.
There is significantly less raw material available on the market.
The reason for this is climate change, which makes cocoa cultivation much more difficult.
60 percent of the world's cocoa comes from Ivory Coast and Ghana.
According to the environmental organization WWF, the more frequent extreme weather events there, such as long periods of drought, heavy rain and floods, have not only damaged the quality of the cocoa, but have also reduced yields and completely destroyed some harvests.
Possible cultivation areas are becoming fewer.
But the heavy rain has other consequences: plant diseases can spread further in monocultures.
This also applies to aphids, which can be blamed for the death of cocoa trees.
A WWF environmental scientist estimates that around 17 percent of all trees in Ghana are affected.
The raw material cocoa is becoming scarcer: chocolate could become more expensive.
(Symbolic image) © Jochen Tack/imago stock&people/IMAGO
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In addition, there are the remaining higher-priced ingredients such as sugar, the price of which, according to the BDSI, is 72 percent more expensive than last year.
Prices for cocoa butter rose by 52 percent.
So far, the annual per capita consumption of chocolate products in Germany has been stable; in 2023, according to the BDSI, it was 9.3 kilos.
And this despite the fact that the price has become steadily more expensive in recent years, as the consumer advice center explained: “A good 20 years ago the table cost 99 pfennigs, currently 1.49 euros.
So the price has tripled.” For companies like Mondelez and Lindt & Sprüngli, this has recently meant an increase in sales, as corporate figures also show.
However, increased food prices are not always justified.
Prices for staple foods such as wheat, butter and vegetable oils are partly speculative.
This leads to increased prices, which are not always related to higher manufacturing costs.
In January 2024, the consumer advice centers therefore called for a critical review by politicians and the Federal Cartel Office and advised consumers to compare prices per kilo.
A court ruling against a manufacturer recently caused a stir - it banned him from selling "deceptive packages" where you pay the same price for less content.
(jh with dpa)