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Germany can't quit chocolate, despite record-high prices

December 3, 2024

Seasonal demand for chocolate in Germany has barely decreased in spite of skyrocketing prices. The cost of raw materials such as like cocoa beans has jumped 50%.

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Shoppers look at Christmas chocolate in Düsseldorf
Advent calendars and chocolate Santas are a big business in GermanyImage: Roland Weihrauch/dpa/picture alliance

Record global cocoa prices have reduced demand in Germany by a mere 1.6% in 2024, national statistics agency Destatis reported on Tuesday, publishing data on the first nine months of the year.

Poor harvests, particularly in West Africa, soaring prices of shipping and rising demand all culminated in making the price of cocoa beans, the most important raw material for making chocolate, jump a staggering 50% compared to 2023.

However, per capita chocolate consumption has remained high in Germany even as prices rose in recent years. In 2018, Germans ate 9 kilograms (20 pounds) of chocolate per capita annually. By 2023, that was up to almost 10 kilograms.

A life without chocolate?

No German Christmas without chocolate

Chocolate is particularly in demand in Germany during the holiday season, where chocolate advent calendars and hot chocolate at Christmas Markets are extremely popular.

There is also the tradition of giving children a chocolate St. Nicolas on the latter's feast day, which is December 6.

Last year, the German sweets industry produced some 1.14 million tons of chocolate products, a 4.6% increase on 2022, Destatis reported. This amounts to €6.5 billion ($6.8 billion) in value.

If sales figures are any indication, the drastic increase in price has largely been accepted by German consumers.

es/ab (dpa, epd)