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Orion, Haitai Foods raise snack prices on soaring cocoa costs

Published: 01 Dec. 2024, 16:06

CHO YONG-JUN
[email protected]

Orion's Bichobi chocolate snacks are displayed at a hypermarket in central Seoul on Sunday. The price of Bichobi was increased by 30 percent on the same day. [NEWS1]

Orion and Haitai Foods both raised the prices of their chocolate-based snacks by as much as 20 percent on the back of soaring cacao bean prices.

Orion raised the prices of 13 products with an average increase of 10.6 percent on Sunday. Notably, the price of the Bichobi chocolate biscuit was increased by 20 percent, from 3,000 won ($2.15) to 3,600 won, while the Choco Songyi — known as Choco Boy in other regions — also experienced a 20 percent price increase to 1,200 won.

Prices for the company’s Moist Choco Chip Cookie increased 16.7 percent, while the Diget Chocolate and Market O Brownie went up by 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively, starting Dec. 1.

Orion will also temporarily pause the production of its chocolate bar To You and other snacks, as it would suffer from a “more than 30 percent price increase" if continued, according to the company.

Orion cited the “sharp increase” in the prices of cacao beans and nuts as the reason for the move and explained that the decision was made on a “market consensus that expects a continuation of the increase in price.”

Haitai Foods also raised the prices of 10 of its chocolate-based snacks: the price of the Free Time Choco Bar went up 20 percent, while the Homerun Ball snack and Oh-Yes Cake were increased by 11.8 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

The prices of cocoa, the processed form of cacao beans, experienced a 127 percent increase in price on year to record $9,236 per 1,000 kilograms (2,204 pounds) as of Nov. 26, according to a data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The sharp increase in price was in relation to the changes in temperature and decrease in the cultivable areas.

Lotte Wellfoods raised the prices of its chocolate-based products by 12 percent in June.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]