November 2025 News & AMA | #PodSaveChocolate Ep 162
Episode 162 of #PodSaveChocolate features chocolate news that’s fit to eat and AMA/Ask me Anything (about chocolate and cocoa) for November 2025. [updated]
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Episode 162 Overview
In this episode: News that’s fit to eat for November, 2025!
People participating live can Ask Me Anuything in the chat at any point during the episode.
News topics lined up to be covered include:
The Ongoing Saga of the Cost of Cocoa
| MARKETS |
|---|
| Futures Prices / Futures Overview – Barchart.com |
| Graph – Trading Economics |
| ICCO Pricing Stats |
| Breaking: Whither the EUDR? –– Negotiations are ongoing over targeted changes to implementation, but the European Commission’s latest position is to keep the core start date for medium and large operators at 30 December 2025. A six‑month enforcement pause focused on support rather than penalties is proposed through June 2026. Small/micro operators in low‑risk countries would start 30 December 2026 ... The EUDR uses the EU’s accounting size categories. A business is an SME if it meets at least two of these three: fewer than 250 employees, €50 m or less in net turnover, and €25 m or less in balance‑sheet total. |
| OTHER NEWS | the TL;DR |
|---|---|
| News | Is the Global Cocoa Crisis driving up demand for alt-ingredients? |
| OpEd | BC spirals to the bottom? |
| News | FDA Warning Letters |
| News? | Top Chocolate News from Google News |
| News? | New FCIA website announced |
| Dates | Midwest Craft Chocolate Festval Nov 21-23 |
| Dates | CHOCOA 2026 day-by-day schedule announced: Trade Fair (18–20 Feb); Festival (21–22 Feb) |
Closer Look
Anthony Myers
Does it, though? Why critical reading – beyond the headline – is important.
The [Annual Social and Environmental] report [download PDF] details Barry Callebaut’s sustainability activities, KPIs, and governance under Forever Chocolate, but it does not present a consolidated, single-line annual “cost of sustainability programs.”
Financials shown are performance metrics (e.g., farmers supported, hectares, carbon removals, traceability) and select amounts like Cocoa Horizons [a BC program] premiums, VSLA savings/loans, and operational investments (renewables, logistics). Those are impact or funding flows, not a comprehensive expense total.
The [reporting refers to] Barry Callebaut’s planned “Price Tag” study, a North Star framework[[1]] project that will estimate the true investment required to build a high‑yielding, deforestation‑free, climate‑resilient, community‑based cocoa system in Côte d’Ivoire, with conclusions targeted for early 2026. It does not present preliminary findings, datasets, or partial estimates from that research.
Op Ed: There is no reliable way to extrapolate costs from Côte d’Ivoire to other producing countries.
[[1]]: Barry Callebaut uses “North Star” to describe its country-specific transformation blueprints for cocoa. There is no link in the report that points to a detailed methodology, and there is no indication that there will be an external, independent audit of the methodology or the results.
“Hot” Trends
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AI, Big Data, and the Future of Chocolate
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