I’m looking forward to the horror date. The owner of a chocolate shop describes how he will raise the price of sweets

You can also listen to the interview in the audio version.

Cocoa prices have skyrocketed. and even if they went down again in the last few days, the annual comparison still shows what rocket growth looks like. While a year ago, one ton cost less than three thousand dollars, this year it peaked at 12 thousand and on Wednesday it was around nine thousand. Reason? Bad harvest in West Africa and high demand.

According to the owner Chocolate Janek Václav DurĪk however, the prices are inflated and there is no fundamental reason for such a high price increase.

“Twelve thousand dollars a ton is nonsense to me. Of course, I understand that there is a crop failure and beans will become more expensive. OK, let it cost, say, four to five thousand dollars per ton, but I don’t think that the price of $12,000 per ton is justifiable,” says Durďák in the program Agenda SZ Byznys. According to him, the price is driven up by panic and related speculation.

Despite the extreme increases on the stock exchanges, however, there is still relative calm in the shops. According to Durďák, manufacturers and their suppliers have their stocks and the price increase will only be reflected.

“So far, the increases have not been reflected in full. It’s the same as buying electricity. If you’re not on the spot, you don’t buy the most expensive electricity right away, but you can already predict that it will be reflected in your prices in the coming months. This despite the fact that the price on the stock exchange would have fallen in the meantime. It’s just that your suppliers are now stocking at these prices,” explains Durďák, adding that the date he himself now “looks at with horror”. it’s summer this year.

“We used to buy a year in advance. This year, however, due to the high prices at the end of the year, we made a contract for only half a year. For most of the raw materials, we are now working with the prices that were at the end of the year, and a hard impact awaits us in the summer,” he explains.

He adds that the price of cocoa raw materials will go up by at least one hundred percent, which must be reflected in the prices of the products. According to Durďák, prices on the stock exchange this time are also affected by premium raw materials, which usually do not copy the dynamics of stock market prices.

If the chocolate factory were to project the full increase in the price of cocoa raw materials, product prices would rise by at least 30 percent. “We will not be able to raise such a price. Logically – when you look at the prices of our products. We expect to go up by ten percent in the summer, and we will calculate with that and believe that the stock market will calm down and the prices will go down,” he adds.

As an example, he cites a recent calculation for one customer who outsources the production of chocolate in his company. “The bobs for production have become more expensive for us by ten euros, i.e. 250 crowns. If I were to project it all into a product, it would be unsellable. So far we’ve projected it at half that, we’ve taken a margin, and we’re hoping that it clears up and the prices come back down. I don’t see any fundamental reasons for the growth to be 500 percent in two years,” says Durďák.

According to him, the company must work on higher efficiency in order to partially saturate the increase in raw materials. “I don’t want to complain, we are working well, but the last three or four years have been extremely difficult. I have been in business for a total of 12 years. For the first eight years, I kind of knew every year what would happen at the end, how we should plan and how it would turn out. Now it’s up and down and you take more risks. Something is always changing,” he says.

Last year, the company had a turnover of 100 million crowns in the chocolate factory and 80 million crowns in the coffee roaster Coffeespot, which it recently bought. “I believe that we will maintain turnover even because of the increase in price, the second thing is profits,” adds Durďák.

According to him, it is already clear that customers will feel the price increase for all chocolate products in all chains and stores. “The prices are going up so much that it will be reflected in the chocolate market. Maybe chocolate will become a bit more exclusive,” he adds.

Some manufacturers are already adjusting the composition and going the route of lower cocoa content or cheaper ingredients. “It can certainly be done, but this is not our way,” adds Durďák.