(Reuters) – Barry Callebaut, the world’s biggest chocolate maker, on Thursday reported lower sales volumes for the first nine months of the year compared with a year earlier, due to a drop in demand in an inflationary environment.
The Zurich-based company’s sales have been impacted by growing inflationary pressures, with cocoa prices near a 46-year high, reducing global demand for chocolate.
The company which supplies cocoa and chocolate to producers, such as Unilever and Nestlé, said sales volumes for the nine months to May 31 fell 2.7% from the same period. last year to reach 1.7 million tons, in line with consensus analyst forecasts provided by the company.
“Our volume was in line with the decline in the underlying chocolate confectionery market, excluding the residual effects of the Wieze incident,” said Peter Feld, who took over as chief executive in April.
Last year, the company’s volumes were hampered by an outbreak of salmonella at its Wieze plant.
The company confirmed its forecast of zero volume growth for the current year, but expects to provide a full strategic update when it releases its annual results in November.
Nine-month revenue rose to 6.29 billion Swiss francs (6.52 billion euros), in line with analysts’ estimates.
(Report Andrey Sychev and Paolo Laudani, Dina Kartit, edited by Kate Entringer)
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