Updated: April News & AMA | #PSC 193
OVERVIEW: Episode 193 of #PodSaveChocolate features chocolate and cocoa news fit to eat, as well as the monthly live AMA (Ask Me Anything about chocolate or cocoa) for April 2026.
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Episode 193 Overview
In this episode: Chocolate News that’s Fit to Eat™ for April 2026.
The Ongoing Saga of the Cost of Cocoa
| MARKETS |
|---|
| Futures Prices / Futures Overview – Barchart.com |
| Graph – Trading Economics |
| ICCO Pricing Stats |
Light Fact-Checking
A quick look in advance of a deeper dive episode after the 2026 Chocolate Score is released.
Can YOU spot the differences/mistakes in/between these two pages from Tony’s “Fair” reports? How and why do the differences and mistakes matter?
Six observations that jump out:
- The difference in the number of farmers impacted between 23/24 and 24/25 is incorrect: 32,133 - 20,296 = 11,837, not 15,355 (~27% difference). If they can’t get basic math right using numbers on the page, how can anyone trust ANY of the numbers? The obvious (to me) takeaway? They do not expect anyone to make these year-over-year comparisons.
- Total premiums paid are emphasized in the 23/25 report and do not appear in the 23/24 report.
- Total revenues, growth rate, and gross margins are de-emphasized in 24/25, in part because growth rate and gross margins are down, even though gross revenues are up. Mission Ally growth is also down.
- The presentation of total bean purchases has changed between 23/24 and 24/25, making them harder to compare. Do some math: 24/25 bean purchases – 12,588 MT of beans sourced by Mission Ally partners (26,843 - 14255) divided by 21 Mission Allies = ~600 MT each. This cannot be calculated for 23/24.
- Do some math: €3,757,268 in total premiums (Tony’s premium only or also including FT premiums?) divided by 32,133 farmers (heads of farming households) is ~€241 per family.
- Do some math: the €3,757,268 in total premiums paid in 24/25 was paid on 26,843 MT of cocoa, or ~€140/MT in premiums. How does this compare to the FT minimum premium? Does this include any Tony’s premium?
From Fuzz Kitto, one of the leaders of Be Slavery Free, in an email (I finished scoring on Good Friday. Here's what that means.) this morning:
Hi Clay,
Hope you had a great Easter!
Mine looked like this: three weeks of scoring, and on Good Friday I finally finished.
50 companies. Over 1,200 policies, reports and evaluations. 12 to 18 hours a day.
I lead the Child Labour category on the Chocolate Scorecard. That means three weeks of going through what the world's biggest chocolate companies say they're doing about child labour in their supply chains and working out whether any of it is actually having an impact!
Now we triple-check everything. Every score, every company, verified again. That's what makes the results worth trusting.
This work is how the chocolate industry gets held accountable. Not by governments. Not by the companies themselves. By 14 independent experts, funded by the community, refusing to take corporate money.
This is a link to the Meet the Team page on the Chocolate Scorecard site.
More News
| File It Under | |
|---|---|
| GoogleNews | News |
| Semantics | Wikipedia: Types of Chocolate |
| Recant | Hershey Co Folds |
| Stolen | 12 MT of KitKats |
| Recognized | Cacao of Excellence 2025 / Puerto Rico Snapshot |
Future Episodes
A conversation with Shawn Askinosie on the 20th anniversary of our first bean sourcing trip (to Mexico and Venezuela).
Craft Chocolat Season 5 Awards Show
All the awards will be presented, and some winners may be present.
Episode Hashtags
#News #AMA #AskMeAnything
#cocoa #cacao #cacau
#chocolate #chocolat #craftchocolate
#PodSaveChoc #PSC
#LaVidaCocoa #TheChocolateLife
#PodSaveChocolate and #TheChocolateLifeLIVE Archives
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Clay Gordon
Clay Gordon
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