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Leclerc Drops Lindt Christmas Boxes After Price Dispute

The retailer resisted higher prices sought by Lindt following a spike in cocoa costs.

Overview

  • About 700 Leclerc supermarkets in France have removed Lindt’s seasonal assortments after negotiations failed.
  • The delisting targets Lindor, Champs-Élysées and Pyrénéens gift boxes, while classic Lindt bars remain available.
  • Lindt pushed for higher shelf prices to offset cocoa costs that roughly tripled in two years, with peaks near $12,000 a ton, according to ICCO data.
  • Both companies have kept quiet publicly as talks remain sensitive, with discussions for Easter products already underway.
  • Lindt’s Oloron-Sainte-Marie plant ended Christmas production at least a month early, and a retail analyst warns the brand could lose up to a quarter of its French holiday sales.