Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut expects sales decline due to cocoa price stress
Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut Group, who supplies chocolate for such global confection and snack powerhouses as Nestle for its popular KitKat bars and Magnum Ice cream, says it expects a single-digit percentage decline in sales of its cocoa products in the coming years as cacao prices continue to feel upward price pressure in today’s volatile market.
The company in its now released Fiscal Year 2024/25 results reported rrevenues rose by 42.4% to CHF14.79 billion, with sales volumes falling 6.8% to 2.13 million tonnes. Global chocolate saw volumes fall by 5.3%, while Global Cocoa saw volumes fall by 12.8%.
Trading Economics reported today that cocoa futures traded slightly above $6,500 per tonne, close to their highest level since early October.
“The past fiscal year was marked by exceptional and unprecedented volatility in the cocoa and chocolate markets, impacting both Barry Callebaut and our customers,” wrote Peter Feld, CEO of Barry Callebaut Group.
The company reported Global Chocolate saw a -5.3% volume decrease in fiscal year 2024/25, in what it says was “an overall challenging and declining chocolate confectionery market according to Nielsen (-3.5%). Volume development for food manufacturers (-5.9%) was impacted by customer behavior shifts in the context of volatility and significantly higher prices.”
Whole gourmet (chocolate) was more resilient, down 2.1%, Western Europe and North America.
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Barry Callebaut highlighted several milestones in its BC Next Level strategic investment program, launched in 2023, meant to move Barry Callebaut closer to markets and customers while fostering simplicity and digitalization. Highlights included the company’s elevated food safety capabilities through initiatives such as the implementation of positive release and introduction of auto-samplers to ensure best-in-class quality to customers; BCOS (Barry Callebaut Operating System) to standardize processes and find ways of creating what the company says is a more agile manufacturing footprint; and Global Business Services (GBS) program with four GBS sites, including the establishment of two new fully operational sites in Monterrey, Mexico and Hyderabad, India with the aim to deliver 24/7 best in class service.
“We are delivering on our BC Next Level investment program with tangible results, moving closer to markets and our customers and simplifying and digitizing BC,” added Feld. “These efforts are strengthening our resilience and laying the foundation to further deleverage in 2025/26. With this, we are preparing Barry Callebaut to get back to growth by relentlessly driving our journey to become recognized as the trusted advisor and partner of choice to our customers.”
