Germany cannot stop chocolate, regardless of record-high costs – DW – 12/03/2024 | EUROtoday

Record world cocoa costs have lowered demand in Germany by a mere 1.6% in 2024, nationwide statistics company Destatis reported on Tuesday, publishing information on the primary 9 months of the 12 months.

Poor harvests, notably in West Africa, hovering costs of delivery and rising demand all culminated in making the worth of cocoa beans, crucial uncooked materials for making chocolate, soar a staggering 50% in comparison with 2023.

However, per capita chocolate consumption has remained excessive in Germany whilst costs rose in recent times. In 2018, Germans ate 9 kilograms (20 kilos) of chocolate per capita yearly. By 2023, that was as much as virtually 10 kilograms.

No German Christmas with out chocolate

Chocolate is especially in demand in Germany in the course of the vacation season, the place chocolate introduction calendars and scorching chocolate at Christmas Markets are extraordinarily common.

There can also be the custom of giving youngsters a chocolate St. Nicolas on the latter’s feast day, which is December 6.

Last 12 months, the German sweets business produced some 1.14 million tons of chocolate merchandise, a 4.6% enhance on 2022, Destatis reported. This quantities to €6.5 billion ($6.8 billion) in worth.

If gross sales figures are any indication, the drastic enhance in worth has largely been accepted by German customers.

es/ab (dpa, epd)