While most consumers agree that ethically-sourced cocoa is no bad
thing, an ever increasing number of different schemes risks
muddying the issue and puzzling chocolate fans.
Global confectioners Mars and Nestle have joined a sustainable
cocoa programme, which aims to establish a traceability system for
all farmers in the Ivory Coast.
Cadbury today launched a fund to aid its cocoa suppliers
in Ghana, after research suggested that average production in
the region is now 40 per cent lower than the potential yield.
The Vietnamese government estimates its overall cocoa crop will
reach 45,000 tonnes by 2015, aiming to make the catch the attention
of chocolate manufacturers around the world, according to Reuters.
Agricultural firm Cargill has started construction of a new cocoa
processing facility in Ghana, in an expansion move designed to meet
increasing global demand for cocoa products.
A UK-based pressure group campaign against companies
that buy cocoa from the Ivory Coast has accused
the industry of funding conflict and civil unrest.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), one of the largest suppliers of cocoa
to the UK bakery market, announced yesterday the construction of a
processing facility in Kumasi, Ghana.
Supplier Buhler has boosted machinery supplies to facilities in
Ghana, enabling operations in the country to not only harvest the
beans but process them into cocoa butter and powder.
Democrats Tom Harkin and Eliot L. Engel wrote a hard-hitting piece
in the LA Times on Monday about the human cost of the chocolate
trade, but the cocoa industry has hit back by reaffirming its
commitment to responsible farming.
Hanging as a persistent threat to the chocolate industry witches'
broom disease is capable of wiping out entire cacao crops and
sending the price of chocolate rocketing. Despite ongoing research
into the threat confirmed by the...
As an army of chemists around the world continues the march towards
replicating in the laboratory the sweetest gifts from nature, a
small group in West Africa is determined to stake a claim in the
process.
The Nordic region's leading confectionery maker, Cloetta Fazer, has
said that it expects the price of cocoa beans, a key raw material
for many of its products, to remain stable for the rest of this
year.
The world's leading chocolate producers have joined forces with
international labour organisations to promote ethical production
practices in West Africa, the main cocoa-growing area. Child labour
is top of the list of current...