How much more are consumers willing to pay for ethically sourced chocolate?

See A U.K. Grocery Committed to Paying Farmers More for Cocoa. Chocolate Bar Sales Skyrocketed by H. Claire Brown of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"In April, the British grocery chain Waitrose added a small yellow label to nine of its store-brand chocolate bars. “Tony’s Open Chain: Together, we’ll end exploitation in cocoa,” it read.

The rollout wasn’t accompanied by in-store advertising, and press coverage was relatively quiet. The price of the bars rose from 2 British pounds (about $2.50) to £2.20. Still, sales shot up by 43% year over year in the week after the launch, and averaged 34% in the first six weeks.

It can sometimes be hard to see a return on investments in the supply chain, said Marija Rompani, director of ethics and sustainability at John Lewis Partnership, which runs the Waitrose chain."

"In surveys, consumers frequently express a willingness to pay extra for products they perceive to be sustainable, but actual shopping behavior tells a different story. A 2022 study by the consulting firm BCG found that while 80% of respondents said they cared about sustainability, less than 7% actually paid extra for sustainable products.

It is even less clear how rich a “sustainability premium” people are willing to pay. Recent research has put the number between roughly 10% and 25%."

"In the broader food industry, the success of the rapidly-growing organic certification label offers some hint that the sustainability premium may translate to other products, though research has shown that health benefits may be a greater factor than environmental concerns. 

At Waitrose, customers appeared willing to pay extra for ethical cocoa sourcing—though it is also possible shoppers didn’t notice the difference. Inflation, and an attendant preference for store brands, might have played a role."

"Cocoa is produced by millions of small-scale farmers, and more than half of the world’s supply is grown in Ivory Coast and Ghana. In Ghana, where a living income is considered around $1.96 per person a day, farming families make about $1.42 per household member, according to Tony’s Open Chain. The companies that join the initiative commit to bridge the 54-cent gap by paying more for cocoa. 

The Ghanaian government sets the price of cocoa, and for the 2022-2023 growing season fixed it at 1,250 euros per metric ton. Buyers that participated in the Fairtrade certification program, a separate set of sustainability standards, paid an additional €245 premium per ton. On top of the Fairtrade premium, Tony’s Open Chain participants paid another €669 euros per ton in living income premium to ensure the farmers in their network earned $1.96 a day. (All of the cocoa sourced through the Open Chain is also Fairtrade.)"