SunOpta plans to increase its cocoa processing capacity with a new facility in Middenmeer, Netherlands as it looks to grow its organic and specialty cocoa business to serve the specialty chocolate industry.
Barry Callebaut speaks to ConfectioneryNews.com about a growing trend for customization, rising demand for certified cocoa and its $950m bid to acquire Petra Foods’ cocoa ingredients division.
The Philippines can evolve as a top-quality cocoa source and serve the needs of growing demand for chocolate in Asia, according to a start-up company trading beans in the market.
Confectionery can overcome its unhealthy and industrially-produced image by marketing the authenticity of products and doing more to engage consumers, says the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI).
Cocoa certification brings more advantages than disadvantages for farmers and communities as improved yields and pay outweigh rule differences among certifiers and potentially unequal payments, a study has found.
Barry Callebaut has announced that it is to spend $1 million (€833,000) on a Center of Cocoa Excellence in the Ivory Coast in a bid to double cocoa yields from farms in the key growing region.
The Blommer Chocolate Company has established the joint venture firm GrowCocoa with ingredients supplier Olam International to allow the companies to move into Latin America and new cocoa origins in Africa.
A consecutive deficit in 2012/13 is set to move cocoa prices higher as supply struggles to meet rising demand for chocolate products in Asia, according to financial services group Rabobank.
Finnish company Fazer has set a target to certify its entire cocoa supply by 2017 to ensure its cocoa comes from traceable sources and is free from the worst forms of child labour.
A larger than expected supply of cocoa beans from West Africa will add to high buffer stocks and push cocoa prices down by 4%, according to financial service provider Rabobank.
Cocoa production in Germany has risen by 36% on the same quarter last year due to an improved political situation in Ivory Coast, according to the Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI).
Cargill’s drive to secure a good quality and sustainable supply of cocoa beans is filtering down to famers in Cote d'Ivoire as it has just made premium payments totalling more than US $2.2m.
Cocoa and chocolate products supplier Barry Callebaut has confirmed reports that it plans to upgrade grinding capacity at one of its cocoa processing plants in Ivory Coast from 105,000 to 175,000 tonnes a year.
There will be no dramatic drop in cocoa prices in the coming months as forecast by numerous speculators hoping to cash in on a downward trend, reports a cocoa market specialist.
Indonesia is the focus of an extension of Nestlé’s sustainable Cocoa Plan initiative, with the Swiss food group aiming to pump $4m (€2.7m) into bean production in that country.
Nestlé said it has increased its donations of disease-resistant cocoa trees to farmers in Ivory Coast in a bid to boost the quality of the beans that are produced in the country.
Cargill’s Cocoa and Chocolate division is rolling out its Ivory Coast UTZ certification farmer training programme in Cameroon - a move the processor anticipates will dramatically boost sustainable cocoa output in the fourth largest producer country.
Confectionery giant Mars predicts a major cocoa shortage by 2020 and reveals harmonization of global cocoa certification programmes to ensure meaningful income hikes for farmers is one of its sustainable cocoa project goals.
Lacklustre demand for cocoa in Europe and North America and expectations of an average crop next season will see cocoa prices remain steady over the coming months, claims a market analyst.
Leading cocoa processor Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has announced it is kick-starting its Ivory Coast sustainable cocoa initiative – Serap – in Indonesia in a bid to boost cocoa quality from growers in that region.
Ivory Coast’s cocoa trade has been normalised, but uncertainly remains about the mid-crop, and and all eyes are now on the weather for the main crop, to be harvested this autumn, notes commodities specialist Rabobank it its latest review.
Ivory Coast cocoa exports are unlikely to resume by this week, said Mintel, in response to reports that the country will start shipping the commodity from the beginning of May.
Barry Callebaut, in a bid to meet its strategic need to diversify its cocoa origin and boost the viability of cocoa production in Malaysia, has announced a new research programme.
Another milestone has been achieved in the UTZ certified sustainable cocoa programme, with the first-ever shipment of cocoa beans from Ghana that meets that standard’s economic, environmental and social criteria.
Leading cocoa processor and exporter, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), said it has suspended cocoa plant operations in the Ivory Coast and is shifting production elsewhere, due to heightened political tensions in the West African producer country.
Industrial chocolate supplier, Blommer Chocolate, said it is set to receive a record-breaking shipment of cocoa beans containing a large percentage of sustainably farmed and Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa, despite political turmoil in the region.
A novel cocoa cultivation method and a new approach to fermentation are resulting in cocoa beans with enhanced quality, claims industrial chocolate supplier, Barry Callebaut.
Participation in ADM’s cocoa growing certification programme - Serap - has tripled since its implementation and it has provided almost 49,000 metric tonnes of sustainable cocoa in the period, said the cocoa processor as it conducts a review of the programme...
Olam International is planning to invest $43.5m to build its first, large greenfield cocoa processing plant in the Ivory Coast as well as additional primary processing and warehouse facilities.
Opting for fair trade cocoa could be one way for food firms to protect themselves against price volatility for the commodity, according to an industry analyst.
Recent cocoa bean price volatility is due in large part to hedge funds attracted by quick returns taking short-term positions on the commodity, according to a leading analyst.
Cocoa fell to a three month low in London on signs that supplies in the world’s biggest producer countries would be boosted by the better crop husbandry initiated over the past three years.
Observer status for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on a new cocoa industry consultative board is proving a sticking point at the UN Cocoa Conference in Geneva this week, which aims to finalise the details of a new deal related to trade in the commodity.
As demand continues to outstrip supply, the world price of cocoa was more than 12 per cent higher at the end of last week compared with a year ago, according to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO).
Blommer Chocolate, Petra Foods, and Cemoi Chocolatier have created a joint venture that will establish 30 fermentation centres to improve the supply of high quality, fermented cocoa from the Ivory Coast.
Latest data on cocoa output from the world's leading cocoa growers, the Ivory Coast and Ghana, shows that levels are well-below last year, according to Reuters.
European cocoa grindings in the first quarter of 2010 rose 8.1 per cent on the year, the biggest first-quarter gain in four years, according to data from the European Cocoa Association (ECA) but an industry insider claims a double-digit hike would have...
Ambitious growth targets are fuelling leading chocolate supplier Barry Callebaut’s strategy to source cocoa from regions other than West Africa, with Malaysia the focus of the first stage of its cocoa production expansion plan.
As Cargill expands its cocoa farmer training programme in the Ivory Coast this month, we caught up with managing director of Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate, Harold Poelma, to hear about developments in the sourcing of sustainably derived cocoa and his...
