Basel, Switzerland – April 11: Lindt Chocolate Easter Bunnies was seen on a store screen on April 11, 2025 in Basel, Switzerland.
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Cocoa prices will remain high despite some possible decreases, amid high input and sustainability costs.
“The prices of cocoa will decrease,” Lichnner told CNBC from Caroline Roth on April 11, adding that he does not believe that cocoa prices “will decrease to the levels that were before.”
He said that the factors that include increasing the costs of inputs, sustainability programs and fair trade initiatives means that “the price of cocoa should be higher than it was in the past time.”
Lechner’s comments follow an increase in cocoa prices to record their highest levels in 2024, driven by weak weather and diseases and outbreaks in West Africa that caused the offer deficit. As the cocoa farm and the high prices that destroy the demand, chocolate makers face a double sword.
“We see a decrease in chocolate markets as in the United States last year, (which leads to) more than 5 % (from) a decrease in size,” he said.
However, it is not just the recovery of the offer that reduces the order, told Uran Van Dort, a commod man’s commodity analyst, “Squawk Box EUROPE” from CNBC.
“High retail prices, sweets that use different methods of making chocolate that use cocoa are less, and high weight loss medications,” he said, causing “the destruction of demand.”
Lindt & Sprüngli showed flexibility despite the fluctuations in the cocoa markets that affect the chocolate industry. The company reported better operating profits than expected in 2024, as sales increased by 5.1 % in the Swiss franc during this period.
Lechner attributed this performance to “great brands with a high desire for consumers.”
Throughout the industry, chocolate prices were rising, and in the meantime, Rabobank indicated, “Many of the great chocolate sweets have already mentioned that they increased prices and transported them to consumers.”
He added, “They may intend to do this more in the future.”
While Lindt & Sprüngli “is very warned” about the transfer of high cocoa costs to consumers, Lechner acknowledged that “the size of these increases in raw materials that forced us, too, in recent years, to pass a certain amount to consumers.”
However, he said that his company “never competed through the price” and that consumers pay “ten cents or 20 cents does not make a difference. You buy this product because you want to show the appreciation.”
Definitions
Speaking to US President Donald Trump’s stand for 90 days on the customs tariffs of countries, including Switzerland, the CEO said he did not expect a significant impact of the customs tariff on Lindt.
“We are employing approximately 4000 people in the United States, we manage five factories there,” he said. “So the impact of all these definitions and commercial war is relatively limited to us.”
The United States has already pointed to indulgence towards foreign companies that create local production facilities, which provides incentives to encourage operations in the United States, not abroad.
However, he added that despite local production “because cocoa, unfortunately, does not grow in the United States, there is a 10 % tariff plan, so this will increase the prices of chocolate in the United States.”
Van Dort told CNBC: “() Increasing the costs of immigration for cocoa grains and production caused by customs tariffs will mean” consumption and grounding for cocoa) will suffer if the mutual tariff remains in place. “The definitions will significantly lead to high prices.
Thinking about the global macroeconomic environment, the CEO of Lindt acknowledged the feeling of consumer, as well as job security and an unconfirmed inflationary environment.
“Consumers are not safe at the present time,” he said, noting that the confidence of customers in China was also “relatively weak.”
However, his outlook for the future remained optimistic.
“I think the delay for 90 days is a very optimistic sign,” Lichner told CNBC. “It is very positive. It is clear that the US government is open to negotiations, and I say I am optimistic that we will see a less impact as we expected a week ago.”
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