Swiss multinational chocolate producer Callebaut issued a report stating the 22 percent increase in profitability made possible by a lower year on year prices for ingredients such as milk, cocoa and sugar.
Global milk prices, which have improved recently, has led to a significant milk production surge around the world since the summer of the year 2017, indicating that the value of milk powder has dropped. Meanwhile, the price of sugar also fell globally.
The company was mainly helped by the combination of lower cocoa bean prices and higher cocoa butter values.
By the end of the season, the company is expecting a smaller than expected cocoa bean surplus. The growing market demand and rising financial speculation activity is prompting the price of cocoa to climb although there has been a modest drop in cocoa production.
The company has acquired two acquisitions that were made in late 2017, Italy based D’Orsogna Dolciaria and the Gertrude Hawk Ingredients. The said acquisitions were integrated into the company’s added -value Specialties and Decorations division.
The most recent period saw investment to grow chocolate production capacity in the Singapore, Americas and EMEA regions. It also saw the initial release of Ruby chocolate on to the Japanese and Korean market.
Barry Callebaut’s sales volumes rose by 9.6 percent to 471,120 tons in its EMEA region, in the Americas, sale volume grew by 5.5 percent to 265,904 tons while in the Asia Pacific, Callebaut’s sales volume was up by 15.5 percent.