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...
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...
Cargill, one of the world’s largest cocoa suppliers, has been ordered by a Brazilian court to pay 600,000 reais ($120,185) as indemnity for allegedly buying cocoa from farms where child labour or forced work has been identified.
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.
The Swiss company said it is tripling the amount invested in the last four years in its chocolate and biscuit operations in Brazil to 2.7bn reais ($550.8 million) for the next three years.
A new initiative to promote innovation in Colombia’s cocoa sector has been launched with grants and awards for projects that promote peace building and forest conversation.
Premium chocolate and cocoa supplier Barry Callebaut has announced the expansion of its operation in Brazil through the opening of a logistics point in the northeast of the country, the Group has confirmed.
Colombian B4B chocolate manufacturer, Luker Chocolate, is expanding its collaborative sustainability plan into South Bolívar, a remote cocoa-producing region in the country.
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...
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...
In the rugged landscapes of rural Colombia, where conflict and adversity have cast a shadow for over 50 years, an unlikely hero has emerged: cocoa. Beyond its delectable taste and aroma, cocoa is proving to be a powerful force for driving peace and prosperity...
Swiss-based Jacobs Foundation, along with the Colombian Ministry of Education and Fundación Empresarios por la Educación, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to contribute to the improvement of the holistic learning outcomes of children in Colombia...
It is not every day that you get to plant your own sustainable cocoa tree, but I was allowed the honour by the team at Compañía Nacional de Chocolates on a visit to its Guacamayas Farm in Urabá, Antioquia, in Colombia, to see the work underway to boost...
Colombian B2B sustainable chocolate brand Cordillera Chocolates is launching a long-term strategy to develop the roles of female cocoa growers with a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship and leadership.
Cocoa production in Colombia has increased by over 60% in the past 12 years and according to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), in 2020, Colombia ranked 10th in the world in terms of annual cocoa production.
Launched in October 2018 at the World Cocoa Foundation’s (WCF) Partnership Meeting in São Paulo, CocoaAction Brasil is coming to the end of its initial five-year cycle. The recent publication of an Impact Report reveals how it has helped cocoa regain...
Luker Chocolate, a Colombian family-owned business-for-business (B4B) chocolate manufacturer that provides chocolate and cocoa to many private label and artisan companies in the UK, has highlighted a remarkable story of two women who bridge the digital...
Brazilian cocoa farmers are putting pressure on the government to suspend imports from Cote d’Ivoire over a fear the cargo will also include insects and weed seeds such as Striga weed, putting local cocoa farms at risk.
PRONATEC, an owner-run Swiss family company that maintains long-standing partnerships with cooperatives in the countries of origin, has been a pioneer in the global organic and Fairtrade movement for 45 years. In 2022, it opened its own impressive and...
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.
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.
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...
The European Cocoa Forum, held recently in Rome, Italy, was marked by frank and open discussions on how best to safeguard and direct the future of the hugely important global of the cocoa sector, said Paul Davis, European Cocoa Association (ECA) president.
Colombia’s Cordillera Chocolates is a world pioneer in cocoa development. Established almost 60 years ago it has been training cocoa growers in various areas of agricultural practices, sustainability issues, disease control and productivity – and the...
Peru is the world's ninth largest cocoa producer (roughly 71,175 tons a year) and the world’s largest organic cocoa producer, and it is now on a mission to develop a deforestation-free supply chain by 2025, making it ready for new European market...
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...
ConfectioneryNews talked to Jose Puyana, ProColombia's Regional Director for Europe, ahead of a Trade Mission to the UK (31 March to 3 April) to attend the London Coffee Festival, where cocoa producers will be also in attendance.
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.
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.
The Dominican Republic National Chocolate Festival has announced winners of its first chocolate competition, which attracted over 40 entries in three categories: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and experimental chocolate.
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’s Partnership Meeting will be the only global conference dedicated to cocoa sustainability in 2020 when it convenes online on Wednesday 18 November.
New data shows women could be struggling on just 23p (29c) a day, well below the extreme poverty line of £1.40 ($1.81) and organisation calls on government and chocolate companies to join the Alliance on Living Incomes in Cocoa, a new international initiative.
Millions is wasted on celeb marketing campaigns that could be redirected to help the world’s poorest achieve a living income through blockchain tokens, says Fairchain and the UNDP.
Coffee and cocoa farmers often grow avocado and mango as part of sustainable agroforestry systems - but these are vulnerable to climate change and should be swapped for more resilient crops, according to a recent study.
Mondelēz International’s Cocoa Life sustainability program aims to strengthen the company’s supply chain and the Cadbury maker’s on-pack claims are only to signal brands contain sustainable cocoa, says Cathy Pieters, the director of the program.
Brazilian chocolate maker Casa Lasevicius has launched four new bean-to-bar chocolates in partnership with NGO Solidaridad using almonds from Tuerê, one of the largest settlements of family farmers located in the Amazon region of Brazil.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard on sustainable cocoa will help mainstream ethical cocoa, says the chair of the standard, while an NGO worries uptake will be limited.
Cocoa origin claims on chocolate products are rare and at odds with the main sourcing regions of cocoa, a study from Lumina Intelligence has found, is it worthwhile for brands to indicate cocoa origin on-pack and online?
Confectionery giant has shared detailed action plans for Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, where over 65% of the world’s cocoa is grown as well as timelines for Indonesia, Brazil, Cameroon and Ecuador.
Ecuador’s efforts to create value at origin could be damaged by the EU’s recent regulation of heavy metal cadmium in chocolate, claims the president of the country’s cocoa export association.
Smallholder cocoa farmers in Ecuador can match the yields of CCN-51 with Nacional fine flavor, says the world's largest fine flavor cocoa plantation Hacienda Victoria.
Kallari Chocolate, an Ecuadorian cocoa farmer group that also produces branded chocolate, is to open a chocolate factory near its plantations in Tena next year.