Chocolate: La Ibérica exported 10 times more in 2022 compared to 2021

You can see the interview at this link: Bernardo Suárez, General Manager of La Ibérica at LR+ Economía

—Since when do you prepare for campaigns like the Day of Love and Friendship?

—Today is a day to eat chocolate, to express love, friendship through chocolate, which gives you happiness and joy. We are always prepared and this campaign is important as it is Christmas, Mother’s Day, among others. People in Peru like to express themselves through chocolate.

—It has a universal flavor, generates friendship, happiness. How was the development of the company after the pandemic, and the recovery of commercial activities?

—During the pandemic there were complications in shopping centers, with limitations on capacity. Then the economy opened up. And today, thank God, we are free of Covid-19. It was complex. Shopping centers were closed, we couldn’t sell in our stores, we had to boost sales in supermarkets, convenience stores, and neighborhood bodegas. We had to face several campaigns, including Valentine’s in 2021 and we did very well. On Valentine’s Day, people like to give chocolate hearts as well as bonbons.

—When I go to Arequipa, I like to enjoy the best of the city, and in Arequipa there are some delicious cakes called “Tortas Fanor”, which are traditional, and are very well accepted in the Arequipa people. But La Ibérica chocolates have that tradition. In that sense, how much does tradition underpin the brand and its presence in the market?

—In Arequipa there is a long tradition of sweetness. There are many very good cakes, and the best chocolates in all of Peru since 1909.

—What is the tradition of La Ibérica, how did it come about? Arequipa is a sweet city, there are ice cream cheeses, “Fanor Cakes”, and as I said a moment ago, there are La Ibérica chocolates, among others, that refresh and sweeten life. Tell us about the history of La Ibérica.

—La Ibérica was founded in 1909. We are 114 years old. It was a Spaniard, Juan Vidaurrázaga Menchaca, who founded La Ibérica. He was very young, a person with a lot of vision because very close to Arequipa is the valley of La Convención, in Cusco, from where we bring the cacao to make the chocolate. On the coast of Arequipa is Chucarapi, from where the sugar comes, and in the valleys of Arequipa there is a lot of milk. The three most important raw materials for making good chocolate are very close. This gentleman, the founder, saw this opportunity and founded the La Ibérica Chocolate Factory. Initially with cup chocolate, but gradually he developed chocolates, and even from Madre de Dios, he took out chestnuts and made chestnut chocolates and nougats and chestnut marzipan, which is unique, because marzipan is normally made with almonds, but in the Peru we do it with chestnut. He was a visionary because he brought together products from the area to make very good quality chocolate and today all Peruvians and foreigners like it.

—These geographic opportunities help establish a business like La Ibérica. But you use, as you said, high-quality cacao like the one from the La Convención valley, in Cusco, my land. I am from Quillabamba, from La Convención, therefore, I am proud that these products go out for the local and international market. But how much cacao comes from La Convención, and how many producing families do they benefit?

—In Quillabamba we have a profit center. We collect the cocoa from the area, ferment it, dry it, select it and clean it before taking it to Arequipa. In the valley of La Convención there is very good cacao, the chuncho cacao, which is many years old. Some experts say that cocoa in the world arose in Cusco and there is a lot of variety because it is a native cocoa that has many varieties, it is a cocoa with a very good flavor, a very good aroma, and it allows you to get a chocolate with a very good texture. It is a very fine cocoa, one of the best in the world.

—How to recognize that a cocoa is high-end, high-quality?

—Two types of cocoa are used in the world: Trinidadian, native, which are small, not very productive, but have a very good texture, flavor and smell. And the others are the hybrids, which are very large, red cacaos. They are cocoas in which very good productivity is obtained, but the flavor will never be the same. We know that a cocoa is very good because the chocolate that you get from that cocoa has a flavor, a texture, which even enhances various flavors. Some specialists, when they taste cocoa, begin to taste fruits, dried fruits, citrus fruits. It’s like tasting good wine. We use chuncho cacao, from La Convención, in Cusco, which is of very high quality.

—Due to family situations, I continually travel to my land, to Quillabamba, and I heard from the producers that they are not paying them what they should be paid for their cacao. In that sense, are you complying with the cocoa farmers, with the cocoa producers in the area?

—We are not the only company that buys in that valley. There are other companies and merchants who buy in that valley. We buy cocoa bars, which is convenient for the producers. To the 500 farmers with whom we work, we give them tools to do pruning, we give them knowledge and we accompany them throughout the pre-harvest and harvest process, we offer them the containers. We buy at a price 50% higher than what the merchant, the wholesaler, the collector pays.

—Does it mean, then, that you pay 50% more than the traditional average price in the area?

-Yeah.

—Do you buy cocoa bars and what is the price paid to producers in the area?

—You go anywhere in Peru and you buy dry cacao for 10 or 12 soles per kilo. We buy cocoa in slime, at 8 soles per kilo, but the yield is three to one. It is convenient for the farmer to sell to us because he has less work, he has technical advice, he sells it at a higher price and we also give him knowledge so that they themselves can carry out the fermentation and drying process. We work with associations in the area to deliver this knowledge, so that they can deliver greater added value and therefore sell at a higher price.

—What are the growth figures for the chocolate industry and yours last year and what do you estimate for this 2023?

“We have been blessed by God. 2022 was a good year. We grew 16% and it could have been better, but it wasn’t because of this issue of the highway seizure in December, because we produce in Arequipa, we are a traditional company from Arequipa, we will always produce in Arequipa, and the closure of highways will it hurt us a lot. We could have closed with 20% growth.

—How to recover the previous levels and how should we close this year?

—The truth is that the industries that we are in the south of Peru, those of milk, cement, textiles, and tourism, have suffered a lot. There are industries to which sales fell by 80%. The only thing we need is stability, is to be able to take our products to the markets with which we supply. Our main market is Lima, the north of Peru and also export. Like La Ibérica, we are directly in Chile, in Bolivia, Ecuador, in the United States. We need the communication channels to open up, for there to be no interruptions, to be able to export, to be able to sell. We can continue to grow because we have a very good product, the market accepted us very well, but we need stability in order to grow.

—How many establishments do you have in Peru and what are the export figures and to which countries do they arrive?

—In Peru we have 54 stores, in Chile we have two stores, in Bolivia we have one store, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and in the rest of the countries basically with distribution. Regarding exports, our growth was exponential, really exponential. We have grown ten times in 2022 compared to 2021. And in 2021 compared to 2020, we have also grown ten times. We are experiencing exponential growth, and we believe that we can continue at this rate, because we have the best chocolate in the world, we have the best cocoa in the world.

—Which countries are enjoying La Ibérica products?

—In Chile, Santiago; Bolivia, La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. We are in Quito, Ecuador; In Miami, we have just exported to San Francisco, in the United States, and we are working to enter Mexico City. And in Canada, we haven’t defined the city yet, but we want to land in one of the big cities, it could be Quebec or Montreal.

—It’s important to reach the Canadian market as well, because they like chocolate and because of the cold they need it for energy. Although there is a boom in the chocolate market, this will encourage inspiration in people, in entrepreneurs who want to work with chocolate. Tell us about this process of inspiration and creation of the new La Ibérica products and what it can be useful for entrepreneurs who want to start their venture with chocolate.

—In Peru, more or less 160 thousand tons of cocoa are produced, 90% of which is exported as cocoa. That is more or less 140 thousand tons. Only 20 thousand tons are processed in Peru to make chocolate. Can you imagine what Peru can be, processing those 160 thousand tons of cocoa? We can be a powerhouse in chocolate, we could be much more than Switzerland, much more than Belgium.

—And can you imagine if all the mineral, all the metals, all the gold and silver that comes out of Peru, is manufactured, imagine how much work, how much growth and how much wealth we would give Peruvians.

“We would be a great power.

—Chocolates, marzipans, bonbons, toffees, among others, which are the most demanded. For example, I love toffees and every time I go to Arequipa, I always buy toffees to give away not only to co-workers, but also at home. But, which are the most demanded?

—The products most in demand for La Ibérica are the Fondy, the Milky, which is a chocolate bar. The Milky is a bar with 40% cocoa, the Fondy has 52% cocoa. That’s where the pills come from that sell quite well, our traditional toffees, which are incomparable in the Peruvian market. We have brought toffees to Chile and it is a hit, wonderful, you cannot imagine the acceptance they have in Chile. And I would tell you, basically toffees and chocolates. To a lesser extent nougat and marzipan because they are products that will always be expensive, because chestnuts are used and it is not sweet potatoes, it is a very expensive dried fruit, but it has an incomparable flavor.

—What are your recommendations to people, entrepreneurs, who want to start their business with Peruvian chocolate?

I want to share the dream. Peru can be a great chocolate power, we can be much more than Belgium, much more than Switzerland, we have very good cocoa in Peru, not only in La Convención, we have it in Piura, in Tarapoto, we have very good cocoa and we have to industrialize it and by doing so we are going to give much more work, we are going to create wealth, and we are going to bring benefit and progress to our country.