AAK records record quarter on back of cocoa prices

The high global cocoa prices has seen AAK’s substitutes for cocoa butter help the plant fats company report a 36% jump to an all-time high of 289 million Swedish Kronor (€29.3m) in operating profits for the last three months of 2009.

The contribution from the chocolate and confectionery fats division stayed ahead, at 147 million Kronor (€14.9m), despite downturns in European and US chocolate markets as its cocoa butter alternatives attracted chocolate makers attempting to keep costs down.

“There is a general concern in the chocolate industry about the long-term supply of cocoa beans – and therefore also a concern about the supply of cocoa butter ” because of problems in plantations, mainly in the Ivory Coast,” says Jerker Hartwall, AAK chief executive.