Selling blood chocolate?
The shelf space dedicated to Valentine’s chocolate seems to grow year by year and chocolate retail sales correspond across the EU. This year chocolate and the cocoa trade are tinged with even more political connotations due to the situation in Ivory Coast. One online campaign is aimed particularly at the cocoa trade’s role in the regime of incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo while others focus on the more general, though equally important, issue of child labour in wider West African cocoa growing communities.
The activist group Avaaz has pushed for a boycott of Ivorian cocoa until Gbagbo steps down and his rival Alassane Ouattara called for a month-long cocoa export ban to crank up the pressure, which has been further compounded by European Union sanctions. The ban is set to be lifted 23 February. Cocoa futures prices have risen more than 20% since the disputed November election.
Despite this, I hope you have strong chocolate sales leading up to Monday’s celebrations and if you can claim sustainability and certification on your chocolate products, you will stand in an even stronger position with consumers. Have a great Valentine’s day.
