The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced a new project to promote sustainable cocoa and coffee production in Indonesia with The Hershey Company, Rikolto, the Indonesian government, and PT. Olam Indonesia - part of olam...
Fine Chocolate Industry Association has announced it has added a new term to its recently launched Glossary that combines the concepts of Fairtrade and Made at Origin.
Following a successful year of rapid growth and strong progress on sustainability, Tony’s Chocolonely has raised an additional €20m of capital from its existing shareholders to accelerate the delivery of its mission, the Dutch ethical brand has announced.
Barry Callebaut has announced it has extended its long-term global agreement for the supply of cocoa and chocolate with Unilever, intensifying its collaboration in areas of innovation and sustainability.
It is not every day that you get to plant your own sustainable cocoa tree, but I was allowed the honour by the team at Compañía Nacional de Chocolates on a visit to its Guacamayas Farm in Urabá, Antioquia, in Colombia, to see the work underway to boost...
Fairtrade has launched a new programme to support its certified Ivorian and Ghanaian cocoa cooperatives to strengthen prevention and remediation of child labour and forced labour.
WNWN Food Labs is rethinking chocolate, without cocoa. FoodNavigator visits the start-up’s R&D lab to see how its dark and ‘milk’ chocolate alternatives are made.
Rising costs of cocoa on the commodity markets could push up the cost of chocolate in the coming months, according to data from the consumer intelligence database NielsenIQ
Ethical Dutch brand Tony’s Chocolonely has announced the inclusion of two UK brands as ‘Mission Allies’ in its sustainable supply chain, which has been established to address issues such as child labour and farmer poverty in the cocoa sector.
I have spent close to 30 years working on the ground in West Africa alongside rural communities, including cocoa-growing communities. In that time, I have learned a lot about why deforestation happens in the first place and the most effective ways we...
The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) has widened its deficit forecast for the current 2022-23 (October-September) season to 142,000 tonnes, up from 60,000 tonnes previously.
Colombian B2B sustainable chocolate brand Cordillera Chocolates is launching a long-term strategy to develop the roles of female cocoa growers with a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship and leadership.
Tony’s Chocolonely has announced it has implemented a new legal ‘golden share’ mechanism to indefinitely protect its mission of producing ‘slave free chocolate’ – regardless of shareholder structure.
Colombian sustainable B4B (business-for-business) chocolate manufacturer, Luker Chocolate has announced that it has been certified as a B Corporation, highlighting its dedication to driving transformational change in the cocoa industry.
As an experiment, I turned to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT* to obtain an outside eye on the current state of the cocoa industry. I was curious to know if a computer algorithm could come up with credible answers to the main issues that...
Charity calls for ‘Big Chocolate’ to pay more to Ghana’s cocoa farmers after it revealed that their net incomes have fallen on average by 16% since 2020, with women’s incomes falling by nearly 22%.
Among other ambitious targets, a goal of the TSIRO Alliance in Madagascar is to 'conserve biodiverse ecosystems'. It’s a tall order, but one that the programme is uniquely designed to meet.
The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) has announced Christine McGrath, SVP and Chief Impact & Sustainability Officer at Mondelēz International, as its new chair, along with two new board officers.
Both countries’ economies have been ‘hit hard by the triple shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, global financial tightening, and adverse spillovers from Russia’s war in Ukraine’.
Barry Callebaut Group has announced significant changes to its Forever Chocolate sustainability programme adding additional targets and sharpening existing ones as it looks to make sustainable chocolate the norm beyond 2025.
The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) has announced the reappointment of Michel Arrion as Executive Director for a period of 5 years until 30 September 2028.
ConfectioneryNews was invited by Barry Callebaut, the world’s largest cocoa supplier and chocolate manufacturer with a significant operational presence in Cote d’Ivoire, to report on how the country is adapting to new challenges in its supply chain.
The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) has reported cocoa prices at the halfway mark of the year (2022-23) of the first position of cocoa futures were broadly higher year-on-year on both the London and New York markets.
Hershey has become the latest chocolate company to support increased incomes for cocoa farming households in Cote d’Ivoire with the launch of its Income Accelerator programme that will facilitate the provision of cash transfers (CTs) and investments in...
In the week that the European Parliament adopted a new law to fight global deforestation and ahead of Earth Day (22 April), Satelligence has announced results of a collaboration with Swedish sustainable ingredients supplier AAK on helping it verify its...
The European Parliament has formally adopted a new law to fight global deforestation with cocoa, coffee, palm-oil, soya, wood, rubber, charcoal printed paper products and cattle covered by the new rules, which obliges companies to ensure products sold...
Ethical chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely has announced a partnership with the UK’s Glastonbury music festival to release limited-edition bars that will raise money for poverty-fighting charity Oxfam.
The European Cocoa Organisation (ECA) has reported that 375,375 tonnes of raw cocoa were ground for the 1st quarter of 2023. This corresponds to a slight increase of 0.5% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Cocoa production in Colombia has increased by over 60% in the past 12 years and according to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), in 2020, Colombia ranked 10th in the world in terms of annual cocoa production.
As reported in CN earlier this month, Amsterdam’s Chocoa Conference will now take place from 7 to 11 February 2024 in cooperation with the World Cocoa Foundation’s Partnership Meeting, which will run from 6 to 7 February in the same venue (Beurs van Berlage)...
Premium sustainability chocolate brand MIA (Made in Africa) has carved out a unique reputation for itself since launching several years ago in Madagascar, crafting bean-to-bar products in cocoa-growing communities.
Olam Group Limited has published its 2022 Annual Report, which highlights its financial and non-financial achievements across three comprehensive components: Strategic Report, Governance Report and Financial Report.
The Cocoa Coalition, a multi-stakeholder initiative set up to prevent and address child labour and forced labour in the cocoa sector, has released a new position paper supporting the objectives of the proposed EU Regulation on Prohibiting Products Made...
The West African country is the world’s largest cocoa grower, but sustainability problems persist despite numerous government and industry interventions, as highlighted by two recent reports.
In news over-shadowed by the shock resignation of CEO Peter Boone, Barry Callebaut announced sales volumes in the six months ending 28 February fell 2.9% to 1.13 million tonnes and has lowered its sales volume guidance as inflationary pressures continue...
The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) has announced its next Partnership Meeting will take place in Amsterdam at the Beurs van Berlage (Old Stock Exchange) from 6 to 7 February 2024, immediately followed by the CHOCOA conference, which will take place in the...
The Board of Directors has appointed Peter Feld (57, German national) as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Barry Callebaut Group, with immediate effect. Feld succeeds Peter Boone who is stepping down for personal reasons.
While many companies claim ‘100% sustainably sourced cocoa’ on their chocolate bars, these sustainability claims cannot be ‘ necessarily’ trusted,' according to the latest ‘Chocolate Scorecard’ that has analysed companies selling chocolate around...
Launched in October 2018 at the World Cocoa Foundation’s (WCF) Partnership Meeting in São Paulo, CocoaAction Brasil is coming to the end of its initial five-year cycle. The recent publication of an Impact Report reveals how it has helped cocoa regain...
The long-term agreement with Nestlé will include payments for ecosystem services (PES) to more than 6,000 farmers covering 11,500 hectares of agroforestry in Côte d’Ivoire. The implementation of the project is already underway, with three cooperatives...
Alongside its 2022 Annual Report, Nestlé has published its Creating Shared Value and Sustainability (CSV) Report, with details on its supply chain transparency commitments and progress on its ‘Good for the Planet' initiative as well as the company’s...
Dove Galaxy said it will focus on women empowerment within cocoa growing communities and Dove Galaxy retail markets as part of an ambitious sustainability pledge to help one million people thrive by 2030 in its value chain.
Gerard Manley, CEO of ofi’s Cocoa business and the group’s Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), has announced he will will retire at the end of June 2023 after 25 years with the company.
CFI 2.0 expected to prioritise a national traceability system in direct and indirect supply chains to counter deforestation caused by cocoa growing in West Africa, when the announcement is made in May 2023.
Guittard Chocolate Company has announced its dairy-free kosher pareve processing capabilities and its new dairy-free product line, which will include three retail baking chips - Semisweet Chocolate Chips, Extra Dark Chocolate Chips, Akoma Organic Extra...
The value of the global cocoa market is $48.3 billion in 2022, which is projected to reach $ 79 billion by 2032-end, increasing at a CAGR of 5% between 2022 and 2032, according to new research by Fact.MR.
Luker Chocolate, a Colombian family-owned business-for-business (B4B) chocolate manufacturer that provides chocolate and cocoa to many private label and artisan companies in the UK, has highlighted a remarkable story of two women who bridge the digital...
