Swiss chocolatier chief upbeat about cocoa surplus

Paine, Chile

THE world's biggest maker of industrial chocolate Barry Callebaut said on Tuesday that there will be a global cocoa surplus this year and possibly the next, taking a more bearish perspective than some other forecasters so far. "This year we will have more beans than we need, so we will have a surplus," Juergen Steinemann, chief executive of the Swiss chocolatier said as the company inaugurated its first chocolate plant in Chile.

He did not state the estimated size of the surplus for the 2014/15 (October/September) marketing year but said "it will be more towards a surplus" the following year as well.