2024-03-05 23:49:18
Until when can the continued rise in cocoa prices be absorbed by Swiss manufacturers? Due to high customs duties on sugar imports, manufacturers based in Switzerland are particularly sensitive to current increases.
In 2023, Swiss chocolatiers saw their turnover increase, thanks to the increase in their prices, because sales for their part barely increased (+0.7%). Exports were even down slightly (-0.2%), according to the inter-professional association Chocosuisse.
Like all their competitors, the country’s chocolatiers have to deal with the surge in cocoa prices, but also with the price of sugar, a commodity that is taxed more than elsewhere. Unlike European importers, the Swiss pay some of the highest customs taxes on agricultural products in the world. Since cocoa is not grown locally, it is taxed only lightly.
On the other hand, sugar is not exempt from taxes intended to protect the Swiss sector. An additional cost which threatens the competitiveness of chocolate makers on the international market, according to the Federation of Swiss Chocolate Manufacturers, which recalls that two factories have closed down in recent years, Gysi in 2020 and Pfister Chocolatier in 2017.
A “necessary” price increase, for Lindt
If cocoa prices remain at current levels, Lindt & Sprüngli, the Swiss chocolatier based on Lake Zurich, assures that further price increases will be necessary in 2024. For 2025, the decision will be made by summer. Already last year, the manufacturer of the famous golden Easter bunnies had applied an increase of 10% on average to its products. A contained increase compared to that of cocoa prices, in particular due to the long-term purchase contracts signed.
Easter chocolates more expensive?
Easter bells should not escape market tensions this year, predicts Sylvie Guillaume, cocoa expert and member of the Club des croqueurs de chocolat. Because even if manufacturers secure their purchases months in advance, delivery failures cannot be ruled out, given the drop in harvests in Ivory Coast and Ghana, the two giants of the sector.
The chocolates that risk suffering the most are those of quality, adds the former manager of the Silco Cacao company in Antwerp. Those sold in mass distribution should fare better.
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