Friday, February 11, 2011

Food Business News

Food Business News: "cocoa (chocolate) demand has been quite elastic. As the economy sank, consumer demand for “high-end” chocolate, which uses cocoa butter, also plummeted. At the same time cocoa powder demand rose as manufacturers switched to compound chocolate (cocoa powder and vegetable oil) in place of cocoa butter and powder, in some cases. Cocoa butter stocks grew to the point processors cut back or shut down completely in some cases. Since nearly equal amounts of butter and powder are made in the processing operation, powder supplies tightened. At midyear cocoa butter inventories were at a 10- to 1-ratio in some warehouses, cocoa traders said.

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