Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 16, 2026
2 min readLast updated: April 16, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleBarry Callebaut logged a 6.9% drop in sales volume (to 1.01 million t) in H1 FY 2025/26 due to weak demand and market overcapacity, but raised its full-year volume outlook—now forecasting a 1–3% decline, versus a prior mid‑single‑digit drop guidance.
By Anastasiia Kozlova and Danny Callaghan
April 16 (Reuters) - Barry Callebaut sold less of its cocoa products in the first half of its financial year, citing weak demand and market overcapacity, but raised its full-year volume outlook in a sign of confidence that it would return to growth in the coming quarters.
The Swiss company, which supplies chocolate for Magnum ice creams and Nestle's KitKat bars, said its sales volume fell 6.9% from a year ago to 1.01 million metric tons between September and February, in line with market expectations according to a company-provided poll.
The chocolate maker said it expected to return to positive volume growth in the second half of the year.
It now expects a volume decline of between 1% and 3% in fiscal 2025/26, having previously guided for a mid-single-digit percentage drop. Analysts' consensus had modelled a 4.6% decline for the year.
But the Zurich-based company warned its earnings would remain under pressure, expecting its recurring operating profit (EBIT) to fall by a mid-teens percentage in local currencies this year. It had previously forecast low- to mid-single-digit growth.
"The unique speed of the market decrease combined with a competitive overcapacity market, volume declines and supply disruption impacted EBIT performance and adjusted our profitability outlook for the year," the group's new CEO Hein Schumacher said in a statement.
Cocoa futures, which Barry uses to lock in cocoa purchase prices and hedge against fluctuations, have plunged from their 2024 peak. Weak demand and ample cocoa harvests have set a record bean surplus, much of which is located in West Africa, where Ghana and Ivory Coast produce nearly 50% of the global cocoa output.
(Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova and Danny Callaghan in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
Sales volume declined due to weak demand and market overcapacity, resulting in a 6.9% drop from a year ago.
Sales volume fell by 6.9% to 1.01 million metric tons between September and February.
The company expects a return to positive volume growth in the second half and now forecasts a volume decline of 1% to 3% in fiscal 2025/26.
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