The price of cocoa has dropped significantly from peak prices. However, it is not yet visible to the consumer.
Kalevi’s chocolates are also familiar to many Finns. Picture from the front of the manufacturer’s store in Tallinn. PDO
Confectionery manufacturer Kalev has reduced the cocoa content of Anneke chocolate, which has a cult reputation.
of Eesti Ekspres according to the chocolate used to contain 30 percent cocoa. Now the share has dropped to 28 percent.
The amount of sugar has also been increased. There are three more grams of sugar per hundred grams than before.
In Estonia, the change is a public broadcasting company ERR’s has aroused debate and critics have claimed that Kalevi’s owner, Orkla, has put inferior chocolate on sale without telling consumers about the changes.
Orkla’s product development manager Kärt Kontram commented that the company reviews product recipes regularly. New recipes are also tested with consumers.
In Anneke’s case, according to Kontram, consumers had liked the new, sugarier version more.
According to Orkla, the new Anneke has been on store shelves for a year already. Before the media attention, the company had received no negative feedback about the change.
According to Eesti Express, Anneke is not the only Kalev chocolate whose cocoa content has been reduced. Piret chocolate, among others, has also experienced the same “optimization”.
Also in Pireti, the share of cheaper ingredients, such as milk and sugar, has been increased at the expense of cocoa and nuts.
The story continues after the picture.
Anneke is one of Kalevi’s most famous chocolates. It is made from sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cream powder, cocoa mass, lecithin and vanillin. Orkla/Kalev
The price of cocoa
The price of cocoa has fallen sharply from the record high prices of 2024.
You might think that means that the price of chocolate sold in the store has decreased. However, this has not happened so far, but at the same time the price of chocolate has continued to rise.
Research professor at the Natural Resources Center Jyrki Niemi previously estimated for Iltalehti that the drop in the price of cocoa will be visible to the consumer only after a delay.
– The biggest reason is certainly the fact that cocoa is bought and contracts are made up to 6–12 months in advance. So now we are using cocoa stocks that were bought at an expensive price, Niemi estimates.
According to ERR, the price of cocoa has also hit Estonian sweets lovers. In the past year alone, chocolate prices have risen by a third in Estonia.
Although cocoa prices have decreased in recent months on the world market, the situation is still uncertain.
Marketing manager of Orkla Estonia Annika Ojan according to this, as a result, Kalevi’s chocolate bars have already been made smaller, and the larger bars have shrunk from 300 grams to 270 grams.
Fazer and Marabou also reported similar downsizing decisions last year.