Chocolates Valor rules out new price increases during the Christmas campaign

The Christmas campaign is approaching and chocolate is, without a doubt, one of its main ingredients. The CEO of Chocolates Valor, Goesleriano López Adrover, has assured this Wednesday during a meeting with the media in the context of the 40th AECOC Congress, the Mass Consumption employers’ association, that “no increases in consumer prices are expected in this campaign Christmas, although we cannot talk about drops either.” All this, despite the fact that the National Institute of Statistics (INE) estimates that so far this year, chocolate has skyrocketed by 12.8% and is already 15.9% more expensive than a year ago. In any case, they plan to maintain the sales volume during this year.

Return to normal?

In this sense, the head of Chocolates Valor has indicated that “Fortunately right now there is less speculation in the market and consumption worldwide has declined, in addition to improving harvests.” López Adrover has recognized that “cocoa has suffered a supply crisis since January 2024 never seen before” and that, currently, they work “with the most expensive raw material in the history of our industry.” Specifically, he recalled that since the beginning of last year “if before the market price was at a differential between 1,400 and 1,800 pounds ton have been reached hit peaks of 12,000 pounds per ton in November and December of last year.” A trend, López Adrover added, that has been softening and that would now be “around 5,000 pounds, but transferring those prices will still take time for them to consolidate.”

“Resilient consumption”

The CEO of Chocolates Valor has estimated that raw material costs have multiplied by four and that, in the case of his company, they have been found “with resilient consumption that has dropped in volume between 6 and 8%, depending on the category according to Nielsen.” In this regard, he described chocolate as “an inelastic product, although people drink chocolate and look for cheaper first options such as white label.” For this reason, he added, the chocolate group has invested in promotion and “we have made it more affordable when we could.”

In any case, López Adrover has assured that Valor always tries “have as little impact as possible” and vindicated the promotional activity developed “to make a brand more affordable.” Regarding the great weight that the private label has been acquiring, the CEO of the chocolate group recalled that 4 years ago they acquired the Portuguese Imperial with brands as well known in the neighboring country as Regina, Jubileu, Pantagruel, Pintarolas and Allegro. “We have participated in this increase in consumption,” he noted.