Global chocolate and cocoa manufacturer Barry Callebaut is in the early stages of exploring the separation of its global cocoa unit from the rest of the group, according to a Reuters report citing three sources familiar with the matter.
The aim of the potential move would be to reduce the group’s exposure to volatile cocoa prices and improve its financial profile, the 16 December report said.
One option under consideration included the separation of the division and the sale of a minority stake at a later stage, the sources said.
According to two sources, other options include a joint venture or merger of the business or a complete sale.
The Swiss multinational group had held talks with advisers in the weeks before the report about a separation of the unit, which supplies cocoa beans to its own chocolate production and other chocolate companies, one of the sources said.
Separating the cocoa processing arm could allow the company to protect itself from commodity price swings and focus resources on its higher-margin chocolate business, which includes contract manufacturing for brands, such as Nestle’s KitKat and Unilever’s Magnum ice cream, the sources were quoted as saying.
In addition, it could allow Barry Callebaut to optimise its financing, as each unit offered a different risk profile, one source said.
Declining to comment on the Reuters report, a representative for Barry Callebaut said: “As announced during our full-year presentation, we are making strong progress with our strategic investment programme, BC Next, supported by full commitment across the organisation and by our main shareholders.”
According to analysts quoted in the report, while a separation could make sense financially, a split could be complex.
Owning the cocoa unit also had its advantages, as two-thirds of its gross sales were generated by Barry Callebaut’s chocolate business, Kepler Cheuvreux head of Swiss equities Jon Cox was quoted as saying.
Barry Callebaut’s ingredients are present in one out of four chocolate and cocoa products consumed worldwide, making it the world’s largest chocolate maker, according to the Reuters report.
Its segments include global cocoa, which focuses on sourcing cocoa and related raw materials for chocolate production; food manufacturers, which involves producing and supplying chocolate products to international food companies; and gourmet and specialities, which provides premium chocolate products to artisans and professional culinary experts.
Cocoa prices spiked last year after disease affected crops in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, causing a global shortage, Reuters wrote.
However, a drop in demand and increased output elsewhere had eased supply concerns and driven prices lower in 2025, the report said.
Meanwhile, in a collaboration with Airbus Defence and Space – the defence and space systems subsidiary of European aircraft manufacturer Airbus – Barry Callebaut has been using the company’s Starling satellite-based deforestation monitoring system to monitor its cocoa supply chain.
The collaboration supported Barry Callebaut’s efforts to develop a deforestation-free supply chain and included a comprehensive risk assessment throughout the chocolate manufacturer`s global operations, Airbus said on 11 December.
Launched in 2016 as a joint initiative between Airbus and Earthworm Foundation, Starling is a geospatial solution designed to measure environmental impact across supply chains, supporting deforestation and conversion-free commitments.
The initiative combines high-resolution satellite data with open-source Sentinel imagery and Airbus constellations, tracking vegetation-cover changes worldwide.
Providing information about all Barry Callebaut’s cocoa plots, Starling technology produced global detailed land-cover maps that differentiated between natural forest, plantation, agroforestry and other land types, reducing the number of false positive alerts, Airbus said.
AI-powered algorithms continuously monitored changes in forest cover to detect any deforestation and conversion alerts that would be in breach of the company’s forest policy or regulations, Airbus added.
