Our cocoa

Where does Cocio’s cocoa come from?

100 % of all cocoa that Cocio buys is RA certified. It comes from West Africa.

Who produces cocoa?

Nope, we don’t do it ourselves. We buy the RA certified cocoa powder from our supplier Barry Callebaut who processes cocoa beans into cocoa powder and cocoa butter (which we later use for the Cocio you know). 🧑‍🌾 Many small family farms produce the raw cocoa beans and they all sell their cocoa beans through a cooperative to our supplier.

How do Cocio ensure a sustainable cocoa production?

It’s all about the right mindset. 🧠 When we make an agreement with our supplier to buy RA certified cocoa; we ensure that the quantity of cocoa beans we use for our products will be produced under the rules of the RA programme.

How does one RA certification help fight child labour?

Children shouldn’t be working. 💔 The sad truth is, that in very poor countries in West Africa it is considered to be natural for kids to help with the harvest of cocoa and other tasks in the many small family farms. 

The rules of the RA programme and the control system are our best guarantee for fighting dangerous and illegal child labour. It's a long and hard process to change the perception of working children, and the first step is to ensure that children attend school. 🏫 Also, that they should not perform hazardous work and of course, there is no question of forced labour.

A major focus of training for both Cocio and RA programme is the strict requirements concerning proper conditions for children in small family farms and the fight against child labour – and of course we support this!

Why have you not been buying certified cocoa in the past?

We would have loved to, but it’s not that easy. We have been actively investigating opportunities to switch to certified cocoa since 2008, but it was simply not possible before 2010 to buy RA certified cocoa from the Western part of Africa. 🍫 We did not want to launch a single niche variant with cocoa from a country without problems, but we wanted to change our entire range and have an influence in one of the countries where the problems are greatest.

Why have you chosen RA certification?

This was one of our big decisions. We carefully evaluated the different options and certification systems. We chose RA for these two essential reasons: RA raises the living standards of cocoa farmers through training and long-term, sustainable development - and our suppliers can deliver RA certified cocoa of the type that we already use in our products.

This means that we can maintain the unique and great taste in Cocio while also ensuring better conditions for cocoa farmers in West Africa. That’s killing two birds with one stone.
A number of other major brand name manufacturers such as IKEA, Mars and Sara Lee have also chosen RA as their primary programme for coffee, cocoa or both.