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Why Kakao is Bought at 3 Times the Market Price: The Calculation of Premium Chocolate

Sim Yeong-gu

Published : Nov 4, 2026 6:24 PM

Video

You might think a chocolate company would want to buy its raw material, cacao, as cheaply as possible, but this company goes in the exact opposite direction.

"We pay three times the market price on the exchange." They directly visit cacao farms, select producers, decide which beans to use, and make everything from cacao to the finished product themselves without going through intermediate chocolate manufacturers.

Why do they bother choosing more expensive raw materials and taking a more cumbersome approach? Amid recent sharp fluctuations in cacao prices and a rise in chocolate prices, the power of a brand capable of explaining "why it is more expensive" is becoming increasingly important in the premium market.

Check out the business insights found in premium chocolate: how expensive raw materials translate into differentiation and how those differences shape prices.

Reported by Sim Yeong-gu | Edited by Kim In-sun | Filmed by Kang Dong-cheol | Designed by Jang Ji-hye | Produced by Knowledge Contents IP Team | Production Support by Pierre Marcolini