Green & Black's
Green & Black’s has just announced that it will source all commodities from fairtrade suppliers. That’s wonderful news and a boost to fairtrade producers worldwide. In 1994, Green & Black’s introduced the first fairtrade chocolate bar, Maya Gold, to the UK and later to the world. The beans for that bar are sourced from the Toledo Cocoa Growers Association, an organization I have covered on this blog before.
Nestlé Bars
It’s merger time in chocolate land. Now that Kraft has swallowed Cadbury, in effect outbidding the Hershey/Ferrero odd couple, Hershey itself is little more than an ant at the candy company picnic dominated by Mars/Wrigley, Kraft/Cadbury and Nestlé. And Nestlé feels a little piqued having been pushed to third place. What to do? Buy Hershey and reclaim the number one spot. At least that’s what a Reuters report suggests.
Kraft Buys Cadbury
Well, it is done, mostly. After opening its mouth a little wider than during its first attempt, Kraft is poised to swallow British chocolate maker Cadbury. Kraft had to increase its offer from 761p to 840p per share and add a 10p per share dividend. Last night, Cadbury’s chairman Roger Carr agreed to recommend to its shareholders to accept this offer.
Although it is still possible for Hershey to make a competing bid as was reported over the weekend, it is unlikely that it will match this offer which is right in line with what Cadbury shareholders expected. Besides, Kraft is about five times the size of Hershey.
Check out Chris Wheal’s take on Nestlé’s decision to use fairtrade cocoa for a small part of its Kit Kat production.
Fairtrade Kit Kat (Photo BBC)
Nestlé, the global food giant, announced that, starting in 2010, its Kit Kat bar in the UK will be made with fairtrade chocolate. In doing so, Nestlé is following the example set by Cadbury earlier this year. According to the BBC, Nestlé sells about 1 billion Kit Kats a year in the UK. The beneficiaries of this move will be the cocoa farmers in the Côte d’Ivoire who stand to receive hundreds of thousands pounds as a result of the decision as estimated by Harriet Lamb of the UK’s Fairtrade Foundation.
