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– The artisan chocolatiers are not at their first difficulties.
After butter, would chocolate be the next victim of rising prices? The subject, highlighted by BFM TV, came back to the table through the centrist MP Cyrille Isaac-Sibille. This elected official from Rhône tabled an amendment to create a surcharge on processed foods containing added sugar. THE chocolat could thus be concernedto the great dismay of artisan chocolatiers and other confectioners, who believe that they should not be the target of this amendment, which was also voted on on October 24 in committee.
If they recognize that attacking sugar for fight against obesity is a noble fight, including chocolate in this battle is, in their eyes, not a good thing. “To make chocolate, we need sugar”explains Thierry Lalet, president of the confederation of chocolatiers and confectioners. “It’s the basis of our recipe. So that’s not the real fight. You have to look for the sugar in the ingredients where it shouldn’t be.”he believes.
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The risk as the end-of-year holidays approach
Especially since the artisan chocolatiers are not at their wits’ end first difficulties. They suffered a very significant increase in the price of cocoa, of the order of 30 to 40%between the year 2023 and the year 2024. The risk is that they will be, tied hand and foot, forced to reverberate this increase in production costs on consumers. To their great dismay, particularly that of Damien Vetault, who is an artisan chocolatier in Angers and for whom this new measure would force him to increase his prices.
“As the end-of-year holidays approach, it would be complicated for us”he laments, believing that this “would send an increase signal to the consumer and risk reducing sales”. According to MP Cyrille Isaac-Sibille, at the origin of this proposal, it is not the artisans but rather the industrial which are targeted, and in particular the ultra-processed dishes where sugar is added. In any case, could the French do without chocolate? Each year, a French person consumes on average seven kilos of chocolate.
