September 2025 News & AMA | #PodSaveChocolate Ep 147
Episode 147 of #PodSaveChocolate features chocolate news that’s fit to eat and AMA/Ask me Anything (about chocolate and cocoa) for September 2025.
When and Where to Watch
Links below to watch LIVE and to view the archived episode.
Click on this (shareable) link to watch on YouTube. Please subscribe (free!) to the @PodSaveChocolate YouTube channel, like this video, comment, and share this episode to help grow the #PSC community.
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Episode 147 Overview
People participating live can ask AMA questions in the chat at any point during the episode. News topics lined up to be covered include:
The Ongoing Saga of the Cost of Cocoa
| MARKETS |
|---|
| ICCO Pricing Stats |
| Futures Overview / Futures Prices – Barchart.com |
| Graph – Trading Economics |
| News The Ivorian mid-crop harvest is forecast at ~400,000 MT this year, down 9% from last year’s 440,000 MT. |
| TL;DR — 1) Tariffs. 2) Weather. 3) Does anyone have a clue? |
| OTHER NEWS | Markets, Mergers, Opinion, and more |
|---|---|
| News | Cocoa, coffee, and tea are among new US tariff exemptions; bananas, avocados, cinnamon, and turmeric have also been exempted. |
| M&A | Kraft Heinz to split |
| M&A | Keurig Dr Pepper to acquire JD Peet’s and then divorce |
| M&A | Mars-Kellanova merger update |
| M&A | Unilever is spinning off its ice cream business and Ben & Jerry’s wants out. |
| M&A | Hartree to acquire Touton? Touton handles ~10% of global cocoa trade, and builds on its July 2025 acquisition of ED&F Man |
| OpEd | The Future of Callebaut |
| News | Cargill suspends cocoa grinding operations in Côte d’Ivoire for the first time in decades, citing worsening bean quality |
| News? | Introduced in August 1935, KitKat turned 90 as Nestlé sacks CEO |
Other Scheduled News Topics In This Episode
INHABIT
Protecting vital ecosystems while supporting rural development.
Nick Brown
Recent genetic analysis revealed that liberica — which has historically been considered a single coffee species — may actually encompass three distinct species.
N.C. Stevens
What are the parallels in cocoa/chocolate?
Donna Eastlake
Donna Eastlake
Nicole Westhoff
Dubai chocolate sold at Costco in US recalled over ingredient that can pose health risk.
Questions?
If you have questions or want to comment, you can do so during the episode or, if you are a ChocolateLife member, you can add them in the Comments below at any time.
Episode Hashtags and Socials
#News #AMA #Trends
#cocoa #cacao #cacau
#chocolate #chocolat #craftchocolate
#PodSaveChoc #PSC
#LaVidaCocoa #TheChocolateLife
Future Episodes
#PodSaveChocolate and #TheChocolateLifeLIVE Archives
To read an archived post and find the links to watch archived episodes, click on one of the bookmark cards, below.
Clay Gordon
Clay Gordon
Audio-only podcasts
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