Nestle pluck price antidote out of air

Dublin: Nestle and Barry Callebaut have plucked an antidote to higher cocoa and sugar prices out of thin air.

Nestle will spend €17.63 million (£15m) to promote Aero bubbly chocolate in Ireland and Britain this year, the most in the brand’s 75-year history.

The price of cocoa has risen 18% since November 28 on concern that the election in the Ivory Coast will disrupt supplies.

“More air in chocolate is one way to save on the cost of a chocolate bar,” said Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets in Zurich.

Refined-sugar futures reached $857 a metric ton on February 2, the highest since at least January 1989, making the traditional solution of adding sugar to chocolate less profitable.