Barry Callebaut: solid growth above the market

According to the company, overall volume growth was consistently above the declining global chocolate confectionery market (- 2.3%; source: Nielsen, September - November 2016) in volume. A good performance in the chocolate business of 2.3% was balanced out by the ongoing and now almost completed intentional discontinuation of less profitable cocoa contracts (- 8.6%). Gourmet & Specialties showed outstanding volume growth of 14.3% supported by the acquisition of the beverage powder mixes business from FrieslandCampina Kievit.

Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of the Barry Callebaut Group, said: “We had a steady start to the year with the Cocoa Leadership project on track, all chocolate regions delivering solid growth above the market and Gourmet and Specialties performing very strongly. Our ‘smart growth’ strategy is proving to be the right recipe for a continued challenging market environment.”