TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) --
Barry Callebaut AG , the Zurich chocolate producer, reported on Thursday that fiscal nine-month revenue rose 1.6% as it shipped 7.3% more chocolate products. For the period ended May 31, revenue reached 3.99 billion Swiss francs ($4.78 billon) from 3.93 billion in the year-earlier period. In local currencies, revenue rose 12.5%. Volume reached 1.05 million metric tons from 975,000. Emerging markets and what Callebaut calls cocoa products for strategic partners led the growth. The strategic-partner segment involves Callebaut selling semi-finished products like cocoa powder, liquor, butter and beans to key customers under long-term outsourcing and partnership accords. Looking ahead, the company expects prices for raw materials, particularly cocoa, sugar and milk powder, "will remain volatile and at high levels." And despite the economic uncertainties of rising
inflation in emerging markets, Europe's debt crisis and the approaching end of the U.S. monetary-easing program, the company expects the world chocolate market to grow more than 2%.Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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