Three US buyers took 45.8% of the cocoa paste exported by Ecuador, Peru, Mexico and Colombia in 2026

Martín Garay

Published October 2026 · Data through 11 October 2026 · 6 min read

In 2026, the cocoa paste exported from Ecuador, Peru, Mexico and Colombia went to 217 buyers in 48 countries, for US$ 229.17 million and 31,441 tonnes. Three companies in the United States bought almost half of it. Clasen Quality Chocolate, Stonex and The Hershey took US$ 104.96 million together, 45.8% of the value, and all three bought from the same Ecuadorian supplier.

I went through the customs export records of the four countries, shipment by shipment, to see who bought the paste, from whom and at what price. Each customs record names the exporter and the buyer, with the net kilos and the declared value. The price per kilo is the value divided by the kilos. I counted the 1,527 shipments that declare a buyer.

Some of those shipments go from a company to its own subsidiary abroad. Barry Callebaut shipped US$ 18.46 million from Mexico to its own companies, Nestlé US$ 17.18 million from Ecuador, and Compañía Nacional de Chocolates US$ 1.25 million from Colombia to its company in Costa Rica. They count in the totals, as customs records them, but I left them out of every price below, because a price between two parts of the same group says little about the market. Sales to outside buyers came to US$ 192.20 million, at an average of US$ 6.91 per kilo.

Three buyers in the United States, one supplier in Ecuador

Clasen Quality Chocolate, a chocolate and coatings maker in Wisconsin, was the largest buyer of the year, with US$ 41.90 million and 6,764 tonnes at US$ 6.19 per kilo. Stonex, the commodity trading house, followed with US$ 31.79 million at US$ 6.83, and The Hershey with US$ 31.28 million at US$ 7.51.

Every kilo the three bought came from Ecuador Kakao Processing Proecuakao. That single exporter sold US$ 131.26 million of cocoa paste in 2026, 68.3% of everything sold to outside buyers from the four countries, to 16 companies in 9 countries. Behind the three American buyers came Empresas Carozzi in Chile, with US$ 6.34 million, and Btg Pactual Commodities in Brazil, with US$ 5.23 million, both at about US$ 7.45 per kilo.

The gap of US$ 1.32 per kilo between Hershey and Clasen is mostly a matter of timing. Hershey bought from January to May, and the price it paid fell from US$ 9.26 per kilo in January and February to US$ 4.53 in April. Clasen bought from January to August and took its largest volumes in February and March. Stonex started in May and bought its largest month in September, US$ 13.22 million at US$ 8.58 per kilo.

The whole market followed the same curve. Sales to outside buyers averaged US$ 9.80 per kilo in January and US$ 5.69 in April, and recovered to US$ 6.87 in September.

The rest of the Proecuakao list shows how far the price can move with the same supplier. Alpezzi Chocolate, in Mexico, paid US$ 13.04 per kilo for 165 tonnes, and Arcor, in Argentina, US$ 11.00 for 200 tonnes. Panamir Ou, in Estonia, paid US$ 3.48 for 500 tonnes, but its shipments are cocoa cake, the defatted paste left after pressing out the butter.

Ecuador sold to other buyers as well. Durancocoa shipped US$ 6.93 million to 6 buyers at US$ 5.62 per kilo, almost all of it to Nutriart in Canada. Chocolates Atelier Chocolatier and Natigold sold smaller lots at more than US$ 10.

Peru: more buyers and smaller lots

Peru sold US$ 45.29 million of cocoa paste, 19.8% of the value, to 115 buyers. Its largest exporter works with far more companies than Proecuakao. Machu Picchu Foods sold US$ 34.28 million to 44 buyers in 17 countries, at an average of US$ 6.94 per kilo.

Its largest client was Indcre, in Spain, with US$ 11.43 million of cocoa cake at US$ 4.47 per kilo. The second was Arcor, with US$ 4.69 million shipped to Chile and Argentina at US$ 9.71. Its buyers of paste in blocks, chunks and organic lots paid much more. Barry Callebaut bought US$ 2.67 million for Brazil at US$ 11.53, Pt Glico Manufacturing, in Indonesia, US$ 1.56 million of paste blocks at US$ 15.56, and Inno Foods, in Canada, US$ 1.45 million of organic paste chunks at US$ 13.45. Cargill bought for China at US$ 13.64 per kilo, and Lodiser, in Argentina, at US$ 9.68.

Ceremonial cocoa paste is a small trade with its own price. Its 19 shipments, 8.3 tonnes in all, sold at an average of US$ 25.60 per kilo, 3.7 times the US$ 6.83 of plain paste. All but one left from Peru, most of the value from Agro Industrias Puma Real, and 7 buyers in 5 countries took them, led by Sacred Earth Medicine in Australia, at US$ 27.72, and Pacha Mana in the United States, at US$ 24.21.

Two more Peruvian exporters sold close to US$ 4 million each. Cooperativa Agraria Norandino sold US$ 4.09 million to 6 buyers at US$ 9.70 per kilo, most of it to Ethiquable France. Exportadora Romex sold US$ 4.08 million to 8 buyers at US$ 5.25.

Mexico and Colombia: small volumes, higher prices

Mexico recorded US$ 20.22 million, but US$ 18.48 million of it went from Barry Callebaut and other exporters to their own companies. Sales to outside buyers were US$ 1.74 million. Comercializadora Eco Cacao Maya sold US$ 1.43 million to Puratos at US$ 11.03 per kilo, and Agroindustrias Unidas de Cacao sold US$ 259,000 to Agroindustrias Picsa, in Guatemala. The rest were small specialty lots, such as the cocoa paste Cacaotales Finca la Rioja sold to Soma Cacao, in Australia, at US$ 35.00 per kilo.

Colombia sold US$ 5.57 million, US$ 4.32 million of it to outside buyers, at US$ 9.96 per kilo. One exporter, Sucesores de Jose Jesus Restrepo, sold US$ 3.97 million to 16 buyers. The largest were Associated Brand Industries, in Trinidad and Tobago, with US$ 1.58 million at US$ 11.77, and Productos Zam Fre, in Mexico, with US$ 737,000 at US$ 12.93. Chocolate Colonial and Ensincro, in Argentina, and Industrias Neuchatel, in Chile, also bought from it.

Where the buyers are

The United States bought US$ 127.11 million, 55.5% of the value, through 57 buyers. Chile followed with US$ 19.53 million, led by Nestlé, Empresas Carozzi and Arcor, then Spain with US$ 15.04 million, led by Indcre and Moner Cocoa, and Canada with US$ 9.33 million, led by Nutriart.

At the small end, 292 shipments of less than one tonne went to 131 buyers in 39 countries, worth US$ 1.31 million at an average of US$ 15.45 per kilo. That is more than double the average of the market.

Most buyers stay with one supplier. Of the 217, 191 bought from a single exporter in 2026, including the three largest.

After going through the numbers, I think an exporter of cocoa paste in Ecuador, Peru, Mexico or Colombia has two different markets in front of it. One is a handful of large buyers that take thousands of tonnes from one supplier at the market price of the month. The other is some 200 companies that buy a few containers or a few boxes, and pay more for blocks, chunks, organic or a named origin. The list of buyers, with what each one paid and to whom, shows which of them already buy what you make.

The numbers behind this

Get the list of world cocoa paste buyers

Every buyer of cocoa paste from Ecuador, Peru, Mexico and Colombia in 2026, ranked by value, with the price each one paid per kilo and its suppliers.

See the buyer list