Swiss group Barry Callebaut, the world's largest chocolate processor, cut its profit forecast and warned of the impact of falling cocoa prices, industry overcapacity and supply disruptions, sending its shares down more than 15%. The Zurich-based company now expects EBIT (earnings before interest and tax — the core operating profit) to fall by a "mid-teens" percentage in the current financial year, reversing earlier guidance for growth and underscoring the scale of the challenge facing new chief executive Hein Schumacher, who took over in January.

In the first half, recurring EBIT fell 4.2% to SFr310.9mn ($397mn) in local currencies, and sales volumes declined 6.9% to 1.01mn tonnes — though the group said this outperformed the broader market. Schumacher blamed "the unique speed of the cocoa price market decrease combined with a competitive overcapacity market, volume declines and supply disruption". Barry Callebaut sells most of its chocolate under contracts that pass cocoa costs through to customers: it buys cocoa months ahead, so when prices fall fast it is still working through expensive stock while charging customers less. The company also flagged supply-chain disruption linked to the Iran war and a temporary factory closure in Canada.

Jon Cox at Kepler Cheuvreux called it "more of a reset under the new chief executive" and pointed to structural pressures on demand, including GLP-1 weight-loss drugs ("In a GLP-1 world, how much will chocolate volumes still grow?"). Retail chocolate prices are still up about 10% year-on-year, weighing on consumption. Volumes should recover in H2; full-year decline is now forecast at 1–3%. Cocoa prices have more than halved in recent months. The stock had gained over 55% in the past year before Thursday's fall. Source: Financial Times, 16 April 2026, Susannah Savage.