Barry Callebaut’s sales volumes rose slightly in the three months to the end of November despite the challenging market environment of record-high cocoa prices, the world’s biggest chocolate maker said on Wednesday.
The company, which supplies chocolate for the Magnum ice creams made by Unilever and for Nestle’s KitKat bars, said sales volumes increased by 0.4% to 580,876 tonnes versus the 578,300 tonnes estimated in the company-provided median consensus.
Chocolate makers have been hit by record-high cocoa prices as consumers are reluctant to pay more for sweet treats.
In November, prices for cocoa beans on the New York exchange (ICE) hit the highest in 46 years due to a supply deficit caused by adverse weather, tree illnesses and capacity shortages.
“With the recent weaker-than-expected cocoa bean harvest data from West Africa, the cocoa price development continues to remain uncertain. The Group foresees an industry-wide impact on working capital requirements,” the company said in a statement.
To address the cocoa price development, the chocolate maker issued a 600 million Swiss franc ($690.37 million) bond to refinance its 450 million euro ($488.84 million) debt due in mid-May.
The firm hasn’t changed its 2023/2024 outlook despite higher prices and continues to guide for flat volumes and EBIT.
($1 = 0.8691 Swiss francs)
($1 = 0.9206 euros)
(Reporting by Andrey Sychev and Mateusz Dobrzyniewski; editing by Rachel More and Miranda Murray)
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