News & Analysis on Food & Beverage Development & Technology
Sweets & Snacks Expo 2024
The 2024 Sweets & Snacks Expo became a launch pad for companies looking to crack the US confectionery market with new products from Colombia’s Vivamor, Canada’s Lovo Chocolate, along with reboots of classic brand Godiva and a new partnership deal for...
Sustainability
Luker Chocolate, the premium Colombian Business-for-Business (B4B) chocolate manufacturer, has revealed significant progress towards Its 2027 sustainability targets, including increasing income for farmers, social wellbeing, and deforestation-free cocoa.
Sweets & Snacks Expo 2024
We take a look at some of the upcoming highlights from this year’s Sweets & Snacks Expo.
CN Webinar
With the new European Union Deforestation Regulation on the horizon, should the industry adopt a more responsible approach to procurement when sourcing cocoa beans and other ingredients? Sign up for our free webinar to discuss!
Company news
Latin American food conglomerate Grupo Nutresa has launched a new sustainability programme to continue strengthening Colombia’s cocoa chain after posting revenues of $18.9 billion in 2023, representing a growth of 11% compared to the previous year.
Special report: Dominican Republic organic cocoa
Swiss subsidiary with a long history of sourcing its premium organic cocoa from Dominican Republic sees demand skyrocket as suppliers look to other regions for sustainable beans.
Commodities
Love may be in the air this Valentine's Day – but so is the eye-watering price of cocoa on the market, making the cost of the key ingredient in chocolate more expensive than ever, according to analysts.
Amsterdam Cocoa Week
Along with the World Cocoa Foundation Partnership Meeting, Chocoa’s Cocoa Sustainability Conference, Amsterdam Cocoa Week was also the setting for the Cacao of Excellence awards, which recognize excellence in cacao cultivation while supporting and...
Financial Results
According to analysts, Barry Callebaut has posted a slight rise in sales volumes in three months to the end of November ahead of a challenging and overall declining chocolate confectionery market due to inflation that is squeezing household budgets.
BALANCING HEALTH AND INDULGENCE IN CONFECTIONERY
The global landscape of food consumption is undergoing a significant shift with the introduction of sugar taxes in over 120 countries. These initiatives are primarily aimed at guiding consumers towards healthier lifestyle choices by reducing the intake...
WCF PM 2024
At the end of 2023, Colombian sustainable brand Chocolate Cordillera announced that 106 female cocoa farmers from Urabá Antioquia had completed the first module of its ATENEA sustainability program, giving some the confidence to become fully independent...
Speical Report
The Surucuá community in Brazil's state of Pará is the first to receive an Amazonian Creative Laboratory, a compact mobile biofactory designed to help kick-start the Amazon’s bioeconomy to process, package and sell bean-to-bar chocolate and similar...
Free-to-listen webinar - Speakers Announced!
ConfectioneryNews will be presenting a special live webinar on Tuesday 23 January 24 at 17:00Paris / 10:00AM Chicago to discuss the new requirements for market access for cocoa and chocolate suppliers into the European Union.
Special report
It was almost 20 years ago that Colombian cocoa was officially recognized by the ICCO (International Cocoa Organization) as Cacao Fino de Aroma (fine aroma beans). Almost 95% of Colombia’s total cocoa production is classed as Cacao Fino de Aroma by the...
Premium
To’ak Chocolate routinely charges over $300 for a single bar of chocolate, which is claimed to be the most expensive chocolate in the world. The brand justifies its price because it is responsibly sourced from a cacao variety, Ancient Nacional, native to...
Sustainability
Luker Chocolate is celebrating the completion of The Cacao Effect, a five-year initiative that the company said positively impacted over 6,000 rural families in Colombia. The closing event was held on 24 November 2023 in Bogotá, Colombia, and showcased...
All in a Day's Work
Julia Ocampo, vice president of cacao sourcing & sustainability at Luker Chocolate, tells Food Manufacture a little about herself and her role in our next instalment of the exclusive series 'All in a Day's Work'.
EXCLUSIVE
This year, the chocolate industry’s most glamorous trade fair spanned five days and commanded two floors of the Paris Porte de Versailles exhibition centre, engaging and delighting the general public and attracting chocolatiers and chefs from across the...
Financial results
In a market statement relating to its nine-month sales for 2023, Nestlé said growth was broad-based across most geographies and categories.
Events
The International Chocolate and Cocoa Festival, which has been established in Brazil for more than 30 years, returns to Portugal for its second European edition, with a main theme of exploring the concept of terroir.
Webinar
Cocoa production is decisively linked with women, and sustainable value chains are, too. However, how will their roles differ with the upcoming EU legislation on deforestation, and in a broader issue, will it threaten cocoa and chocolate exporters?
Special report
With 95% of exported beans classed as ‘fine flavour cacao’, Colombia's reputation in the world of chocolate is unparalleled, and after a successful showing at Seattle’s NorthWest Chocolate Festival by a quartet of artisanal companies, the word is quickly...
Free Online session
The Women in Cocoa & Chocolate Network (WINCC) has announced an especially convened online session with Colombia’s Cordillera Chocolate to explore how the upcoming EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) could provide opportunities for women empowerment in...
Production
The family-owned company has been processing cocoa beans into cocoa mass, butter, and powder at its own exclusively organic plant in Winterthur, Switzerland, since June 2022 and says an assessment carried out this month shows there have been no pesticide...
Special edition: Flavour inspiration
Luker Chocolate, a premium and sustainable brand from Colombia, has also been at the forefront of introducing new flavours to chocolate bars over the past couple of years, and the company has gathered valuable insights from recent trade fairs ExpoWest...
Business
Recognition of its B2B division reaffirms Grupo Nutresa's commitment to globalisation and the purpose of brands such as Cordillera in developing businesses with a sustainable vision.
M&As
Nestlé has announced an agreement with Advent International to acquire a majority stake in Grupo CRM, which owns more than 1,000 chocolate boutiques under the Kopenhagen and Brasil Cacau brands across the county, along with a strong and growing online...
Special report
The importance to the cocoa sector of female farmers has been increasingly recognised in the past decade with the introduction of specific support for female-led Fairtrade cooperatives in West Africa, along with initiatives from other actors in different...
Special report
In June 2022, PRONATEC opened the first organic cocoa processing facility in Switzerland, located in Beringen, near the company’s headquarters in Winterthur. A year on, ConfectioneryNews caught up with MD/CEO David Yersin to find out how the new plant is...
Sustainability
Digital payments are increasingly accepted in cocoa-growing origins and after decades of farmer-level cash transactions, cocoa farmers in Brazil and Ecuador were the first in Barry Callebaut’s supply chain to go digital with payments.
Commodities
Ecuador has signed a free trade deal with China, which is expected to boost exports for the country’s industrial sector.
M&As
Colombian Chocolate Manufacturer Luker Chocolate has announced it has acquired a majority stake in Slovakian Lyra Group in a deal that will strengthen Luker’s product capabilities and increase flexibility in logistics for European clients.
William Reed – the publisher of award-winning B2B brands including FoodNavigator and NutraIngredients - has acquired a majority stake in agri-food summit organizer Rethink Events.
Financial results
Mondelēz International has announced net revenues grew 8.1% year-on-year in the third quarter this year, driven by stronger pricing and volume. The Chicago-headquartered company also raised its full-year results forecasts and announced more price hikes...
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s presidential election win in Brazil will make it easier for food and beverage companies to comply with their zero-deforestation commitments, it has been claimed.
Sustainability
Oat m!lk chocolate brand, HAPPi, is teaming up with Luker Chocolate to create Kids for Nature, an exciting new project that aims to protect the remarkable wildlife of Colombia by educating the next generation to become guardians of their ecosystem.
Sustainability
Connecticut-based healthy snack food brand GoodSam Foods has announced a new venture with Colombian chocolate manufacturer Luker Chocolate to boost educational programmes in cocoa communities.
Social responsibility
Colombian cocoa supplier Luker Chocolate has announced it has joined the Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent), a global business network of more than 200 major companies around the world committed to supporting refugees, including by hiring and training...
Processing
Brazil’s cocoa beans production continues its upward curve with the latest figures released this month showing grindings have already increased up to 5% in 2022.
News in brief
IMCD has become CP Kelco’s strategic distributor in Mexico across all market segments of food, plus consumer and industrial (C&I) applications.
How is Unilever ensuring sustainability in sourcing regions? Hanneke Faber, President Foods & Refreshment at Unilever, weighs in.
Grindings
The Commonwealth of Dominica is setting an agenda to position itself as one the best cocoa producers on the international market by developing better agricultural practices and infrastructure.
Exploring unique food pairings offers food brands the chance to tap into consumer desire to improve immunity via functional food, according to a report.
The global ingredients specialist has created an online platform to provide its clients with access to the authoritative science behind its ingredients, which it hopes will go a long way to address public health challenges.
Podcast
With Veganuary in full swing and more popular than ever, Paul Morris, Luker Chocolate’s UK sales manager, chats to ConfectioneryNews about the 123-year-old family run company and its single origin Cacao Fino de Aroma.
WCF Partnership Meeting 2020
WCF’s Partnership Meeting will be the only global conference dedicated to cocoa sustainability in 2020 when it convenes online on Wednesday 18 November.
Forum
The eleventh Cacao and Chocolate Salon in Peru will be held online this year and runs from July 20 to July 23.
A UK tech company claims AI holds the key to avoiding the risk of coronavirus destabilising the food system.
Chile's Algramo sells branded goods in reusable packaging, saving money for manufacturers - such as Nestlé and Unilever - and reducing plastic waste. “We keep packaging in the economy and out of the environment,” it says.
Oleopalma is setting the standard for palm oil production in Mexico as the first company in the country to receive Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification.