Our Cocoa

Our COCOA

BEHIND OUR APPROACH

Cocoa is one of our major ingredients – and we respect strict quality standards in our sourcing of cocoa to create the utmost taste experience. As part of our commitment to quality, delivering the best taste experience, and our ambition for a cocoa industry that cares for people and nature, we have created our Cocoa Charter, to ensure we support farming that's good for people and the planet.

DISCOVER OUR COCOA CHARTER

Responsibly sourced cocoa

We buy our cocoa mainly from the Ivory Coast and Ghana, two countries that between them grow well over half of the world's cocoa. Today, 100% of the cocoa we use to produce Ferrero Rocher is sourced through independently managed sustainability standards such as Rainforest Alliance, Cocoa Horizona and Fairtrade, among others. We’re committed to actively contributing to a responsible cocoa supply chain and to tracing cocoa beans back to farmer groups.

Good agricultural practices

Cocoa trees need water and fertiliser to flourish and for protection against disease and stress. To maintain the high quality of Ferrero Rocher, we care for the smallholder farmers who grow our cocoa, and for the land they farm on. We're a founding member of the Cocoa & Forests Initiative, a partnership between the top cocoa-producing countries and leading chocolate and cocoa companies, which supports farmers and aims to protect and restore forests. Ferrero is also a long-time member of both the World Cocoa Foundation and the International Cocoa Initiative to support work on good agricultural practices, fight child labour in cocoa growing communities and protect the environment.

Supporting farming communities

Our farmers are keen to learn more about sustainable cocoa production, and we invest in Farmer Field Schools, 2023 we trained 140,000 farmers (66% of our cocoa farmers) in good agricultural, social and environmental practices - most of them through one-to-one coaching. We also help them diversify their income by planting other crops such as fruit and timber trees, beekeeping for honey, or livestock farming

DISCOVER more about responsibility

Our quality approach to cocoa

Cocoa harvests differ from year to year, and so we use our experience to create the best blends that will ensure the consistent quality and luxurious taste of Ferrero Rocher. Our cocoa beans are also traceable to the farm where it was grown, and we use technology to map farms and sourcing areas so that we know their location, size, and productivity. 82% of our cocoa comes from farmers who grow cocoa only for Ferrero.

Our commitment to cocoa traceability

Cocoa trees produce cocoa pods, each containing about 40 cocoa beans. The Cocoa beans are removed from the shells and left to ferment in heaps under banana leaves for a week. The farmers dry the beans in the tropical sun for about a week, then take them to a nearby purchasing point, like a small warehouse. Here the beans undergo the first of many quality checks - there are checks every step of the way, from where and how it's grown, all the way to where we make our delicious chocolate.