but here is a little background, FYI:
Will Hershey Price Increases Trickle Down to Cocoa Farmers?
by Tim Newman · 2011-03-31 06:03:00 UTC
Topics:
Child Labor ·
Fair Trade ·
Slave Labor ·
Workers' Rights
This Wednesday, the Hershey Company announced that it would be increasing the prices of its chocolate by almost 10% to offset input costs, including raw materials. With cocoa prices rising globally due to lower production from West Africa and a ban on cocoa exports from the world's largest cocoa producing country, Cote d'Ivoire, because of the ongoing conflict there, many chocolate companies are considering ways to compensate for higher costs of ingredients. As Hershey passes the bill onto the consumer, the question looms: will the farmers trapped in poverty who produce the key ingredient for this multi-billion dollar company benefit from the price hike?
Cocoa industry analysts have been watching closely as cocoa prices increase globally and more and more farmers begin to abandon cocoa growing for other crops. Fear of a looming cocoa shortage is pushing many chocolate companies to develop a range of strategies to address problems in their cocoa supply. Hershey has been experimenting with various ways to cut costs and increase profits recently. For example, the company will soon be releasing a new product called "Air Delight" that actually adds air into chocolate as an innovative way to reduce the amount of cocoa in chocolate.
Hershey is also continuing a process it was been undergoing since 2007 of outsourcing its chocolate production as a way of reducing costs. The company's supply chain transformation has led to the loss of thousands of good paying union jobs in the U.S. Tragically, the shift to factories that employ short-term contracted workers with few rights on the job has led to unsafe, and even deadly, conditions for the workers who produce Hershey chocolate.
The good news for Hershey is that the company expects the new price increases to be offset by high sales leading up to Easter which means that there should not be a negative impact on the company's high expectations for increased profits this year. But for the cocoa farmers who struggle to survive, will Hershey's price increases have any impact on the underlying issues that affect their daily lives and thus, the world cocoa prices?
rest: http://news.change.org/stories/will-hershey-price-increases-trickle-down-to-cocoa-farmers
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