Whittaker’s has announced the price of its chocolate will increase from Monday as the global cocoa shortage continues to impact ingredient costs.
In a post to its Facebook page, the chocolate company said the cost of its ingredients has risen “significantly”.
Prices of its products would be raised as a result from November 18. This the second such rise this year after a cost increase in May.
“We understand that any price increase is significant to Whittaker’s Chocolate Lovers and have tried to increase our price by as little as possible,” the Porirua-based company said on Facebook.”
“We sell our chocolate to individual retailers at Recommended Retail Prices (RRP) and retailers set their price based on that,” Whittaker’s explained to 1News in a statement.
“We hope Chocolate Lovers agree that a price increase is preferable to any changes to our product size, recipes, product range, use of the finest ingredients, commitment to ethical sourcing, or where we make our chocolate.”
Whittaker’s used to solely source its cocoa beans from Ghana but now supplements this with beans from other parts of Africa which meet quality and ethical standards.
Of the world’s cocoa, 70% is produced in Africa, with supply in the region down around 40% compared with previous years.
Co-chief operating officer Matt Whittaker said last month the global cocoa shortage looked set to continue “which is also unfortunately likely to have ongoing impacts on the price of all chocolate into the future”.