July 9 (Reuters) – Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut (BARN.S), said on Thursday its third-quarter sales volumes rose for the first time in two years and forecast a smaller full-year decline than expected, helped by stabilising operations in North America.
Sales volumes rose 5.7% from a year earlier, while the group said it now expected volumes to fall 1% in the year ending in August, compared with a 2.5% decline forecast in a company-provided consensus.
Sales volumes at Barry Callebaut are closely watched as an indicator of global chocolate demand following a period of record cocoa prices.
The company, one of the world’s top cocoa processors which supplies chocolate for Magnum (MICCT.AS), ice creams and Nestle’s (NESN.S), KitKat bars, kept its forecast for recurring core earnings in local currencies to fall by a mid-teens percentage this year.
Barry Callebaut said the volume gain reflected “early signs of stabilising fundamentals and service levels in North America”.
Reporting by Paolo Laudani and Kira Britten in Gdansk; Editing by Matt Scuffham, Christian Schmollinger and Subhranshu Sahu.
