• Announcement
20. September 2022

We are excited to announce the launch of the report and interactive tool “Analysis of the distribution of value, costs, taxes and net profit margins along the German cocoa and chocolate value chains”, developed and presented by Le Basic.

A text by German Initiative on sustainable cocoa

The study was initiated by individual stakeholder groups of the German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa (GISCO) and jointly commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), in collaboration with the European Commission's Directorate General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) and the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Investment Center. The report follows the example of a study conducted for the French market by Le Basic - a crucial step in the direction to develop a European-wide approach and model.

Le Basic presents a model that provides the detailed distribution of value, costs, taxes and net profits along the cocoa/chocolate chain for a range of chocolate final products marketed in Germany, comparing conventional and certified products. Together with the report, an interactive tool was launched, which includes a simulation option and allows for comparisons by bean origin, chocolate type, prices, and costs. The model is based on a variety of publicly available data, a thorough analysis of the business operations of actors at each stage of the chain, and numerous interviews with actors in the sector both domestically and internationally.

GISCO and the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA) cohosted the launch event on Tuesday, 20 September. BMZ and EU DG-INTPA held the introductory remarks, followed by an in-depth presentation of Le BASIC.