Further price increases for cocoa
Chocolate manufacturers might have to either absorb or pass on even more price increases as cocoa prices have broken through the £2,000 (€2133) a tonne barrier last week.
Luxury chocolate brands will likely be worst affected due to their higher levels of cocoa even though all manufacturers have seen other prices, such as oil, drop. The impact on retail chocolate prices will not be as strong outside the UK because of the strength of the euro and the US dollar against the British pound.
Prices have risen 75 per cent in the past year, mainly due to continued concerns about diminishing supply from Ghana and the Ivory Coast, the two leading global cocoa producing countries. Cocoa bean arrivals from October to January are about 30 per cent below last year.
