Popular right now: Our top five confectionery and chocolate stories on social media

1. Agreement by Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana to introduce new minimum floor price for cocoa fails​​

This article about a follow-up meeting between two of the world’s biggest cocoa producers, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, where they were supposed to jointly set a new minimum floor price for the export market, drew quite a bit of heat on our social media channels. As the article reports, the two countries instead agreed on 'additional' $400 income for farmers if price falls too low.

2. Behind the scenes: How Nestlé created its recyclable paper packaging solution​​

Our exclusive video on Nestlé’s technical breakthrough in confectionery packaging, which demonstrated how the ‘YES!’ snack bar range was able to be wrapped in recyclable paper for the first time, proved popular, and also a little controversial, see below article!

3. Sugarpova launches new gummy flavors at Sweets and Snacks Expo​​

It’s Wimbledon fortnight and tennis ace Maria Sharapova was in the headlines quite a lot, and this video resurfaced when we caught up with her at the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago after she launched a new line of Sugarpova luxury classic candies. It’s a shame Sharapova crashed out in the first round at Wimbledon this year with an arm injury!

4. ‘Global crisis in cocoa and coffee prices’ are a threat to decent incomes for farmers​​

Fairtrade’s recent conference, Changing Trade, Changing Lives, ​called for decent incomes and a sustainable future for the world’s small-scale farmers and workers. It explored trends in sustainability, supply chains and human rights, and assessed progress towards achieving decent incomes for the 1.6m Fairtrade farmers and workers around the world and was attended by producers, businesses, governments and trade justice campaigners.

5. Confectioner says it was ‘first to move into plastic-free packaging’​​

Not everyone was happy with Nestlé’s technical breakthrough in recyclable packaging. Flower & White, a meringue maker from UK, claimed to be the first to market with award-winning paper technology. It claims its gourmet product - Meringue Bites – uses an innovative paper-based pouch with a heat-sealable coating and was launched before Nestlé’s own announcement. Let the ‘Choco wars’ begin!

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