As of: March 26, 2024, 5:11 p.m
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More than 240 million chocolate Easter bunnies will go on sale this year.
© Monika Skolimowska / dpa
Chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs and all kinds of chocolate products are very popular at Easter.
But this year consumers will have to dig deeper into their pockets than usual for confectionery.
Berlin - Bad news for all those with a sweet tooth: Cocoa, an important ingredient in Easter bunnies and chocolate Easter eggs, rose more in price in January than it has in over 20 years.
The import prices for cocoa beans and cocoa bean nibs increased by 73.4 percent compared to the same month last year, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday.
The last time there was a larger increase was in October 2002, when it was 87.4 percent.
The import of cocoa mass and cocoa butter has also increased significantly - by 49.4 percent compared to January 2023.
“One reason for the sharp increase in import prices for the raw material cocoa is its shortage on the world market as a result of bad harvests, especially in West Africa,” the statisticians explained the trend.
On the London Stock Exchange, the cocoa future was recently trading at a record high of more than 7,500 pounds per ton.
Ghana recently predicted that cocoa production this year would be 40 percent below target.
Ivory Coast is the main trading partner for kako
Last year, a total of almost 435,100 tons, around eight percent fewer cocoa beans were imported into Germany than in 2022 (473,400 tons).
Most of the cocoa imported into Germany came from Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).
“The high price increases for imports of cocoa are also likely to have an impact on producer prices for chocolate produced in this country,” expect the statisticians.
In February, producer prices for chocolate and other cocoa-containing food preparations rose above average by 8.8 percent compared to the same month last year - even though the increase was lower than a few months ago.
For comparison: Overall, food costs from producers were 0.6 percent less than in February 2023. The supermarket chains Lidl and Rewe also recently commented on the feared Easter bunny price explosion.
The German confectionery industry still produces around 240 million chocolate bunnies at Easter - an increase of 0.5 percent compared to the previous year, as the industry association BDSI announced.
Almost half remain in Germany.
The remaining 51 percent go abroad - primarily to neighboring European countries, but also to the USA, Canada, Australia or South Africa.
(Reuters, lf)