As of: March 7, 2024, 8:54 a.m
By: Diana Rissmann, Lennart Schwenck
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For many people, chocolate bunnies and the like are an integral part of Easter.
But this year the pleasure could be more expensive - supermarkets are “worried”.
In Switzerland, our neighboring country, supermarkets significantly increased the prices of chocolate eggs, bunnies and similar products shortly before Easter.
Products from brands like Ferrero have seen price increases of up to 12 percent.
This raises the question of whether German consumers expect an Easter that is as expensive as in Switzerland.
According to Blick.ch,
the above-average price increase for chocolate products is
due to the increase in raw material prices for cocoa, which also affects Germany.
After rising in 2023, cocoa prices have risen another 50 percent this year.
The cause of this price increase is the supply crisis in West Africa.
For many people, part of Easter is: chocolate bunnies.
But in 2024 these could become an expensive pleasure.
© Diana Rissmann/DALL-E (AI generated)
Rewe gives reasons and causes: Price shock in the supermarket for chocolate at Easter?
Could there be a price shock for chocolate in the supermarket shortly before Easter?
Rewe explains the reasons and causes.
Thomas Bonrath, press spokesman for the Rewe Group, which also owns the Penny discounter brand, confirms when asked by
IPPEN.MEDIA
: “The most important countries for cocoa cultivation include the Ivory Coast and Ghana (almost 70 percent of the global cocoa harvest comes from both countries alone ) and Ecuador, but also Brazil.”
Bonrath adds: “We have been experiencing significant price increases for cocoa on the raw material exchanges for many years.
This is particularly because global demand is significantly greater than supply.
“In addition, growing areas such as Ghana and Ivory Coast are increasingly suffering from crop failures due to climate change – the cocoa plantations are drying out.”
Cocoa producers are experiencing lower crop yields due to climate change
Cocoa producers have too low crop yields due to climate change.
Thomas Bonrath sees the seasonal harmattan winds as the main culprit.
Similar to the El Niño phenomenon, these are causing concerns among chocolate farmers.
“Consequently, there is growing concern about the upcoming intermediate harvest in the growing countries,” said the press spokesman for the Rewe Group.
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As a result, Ivory Coast even “suspended trading of futures contracts for the next harvest” in early February.
This affects all planned deliveries from October 2024.
But what does that mean for food in Germany and, in the short term, for Easter?
Bonrath explains: “From our food retail perspective, it cannot be inferred per se that all chocolate or all products containing cocoa will become more expensive.
The reasons for this include the intense price competition in the industry, ongoing contracts, manufacturers' stockpiling and the actual cocoa content of the products.
Against this background, we do not want to take part in price speculation.”
Expensive chocolate for Easter?
Lidl “does not want to pass on all price increases to our customers”
The discounter Lidl at least offers hope that the increase in raw material prices will not be passed on to consumers: “It is always our aim to offer a wide variety of everyday products at the usual low Lidl price.
Therefore, if possible, we do not pass on all price increases to our customers and reduce prices when the raw material markets relax,” said Gloria Funke, press spokeswoman for Lidl, to IPPEN.MEDIA.
In the meantime, there was also a real price explosion in supermarkets and discounters in another neighboring country of Germany, Austria.
Food prices there increased by up to 71 percent.
(ls)
The editor Diana Rissmann wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at her own discretion. All information has been carefully checked.
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