High cocoa prices bite into Barry Callebaut's volume outlook, shares slump

Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut lowered its annual sales volume guidance on Thursday due to what it called "unprecedented volatility" in cocoa bean prices, sending its shares falling almost 20%, on track for their biggest one-day drop ever. The world's largest chocolatier, which supplies key food producers such as KitKat maker Nestle, forecast a mid-single-digit percentage decrease in its cocoa sales volume for the financial year ending on August 31. It had previously said it expected the sales volume to fall by a low single-digit percentage amid the exceptionally high prices of the raw material.