Silva-cacao

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Silva-cacao

Sourcing cacao with an identity, connecting exceptional cacao producers and passionate chocolate makers

03/10/2025

🍃 Balancing certified organic and meaningful impact for flavour, forests, farmers & the future

The EU’s new Organic Regulation (2018/848) brings higher costs & paperwork for farmers, and tighter supply & rising prices for chocolate makers. We help you navigate!

CONSIDERATIONS FOR CRAFT CHOCOLATEMAKERS
🔸Organic labelling decisions: not all cacao you purchase may carry the EU organic logo, though may be organic by nature.
🔸Sourcing stability: EU certified organic cacao becomes more limited. Carefully select sources with the organisational capacity & stability to maintain certification
🔸 Flexibility & Contingency Planning: Given the volatility in certified cacao, you might need flexibility, including ‘Plan B’ strategies, to avoid disruptions.
🔸Quality & Availability: Limited availability of certain organic cacao qualities may affect product lines, requiring adjustments in product development

OUR GUIDELINES FOR CHOCHOLATEMAKERS TO ADAPT, RETHINK AND DECIDE ON ORGANIC
❓ What does organic mean to your brand
🔹Do you require the EU organic logo on your packaging?
🔹Or are you more aligned with a philosophy of agroforestry, valuing clean farming and biodiversity, even if not certified?
❓Are your current qualities still viable
🔹Some origins may drop certification
🔹Availability may fluctuate
❓ Do you have sourcing flexibility into your portfolio
🔹Who are you buying from?
🔹Do your partners understand the new rules & can help you navigate them
🔹Ask questions about audits, farmer structures, & testing procedures

🍫🌳👨🏽 🌾✨At Silva Cacao approach goes beyond organic certified, ensuring cacao that supports a sustainable future for people and planet - balancing flavour, forests, farmers & future. This isn’t just about certification -it’s about defining what “organic” truly means for the future of chocolate.

⚖ Do you double down on the EU organic logo?

📞 Reach out, and we happily support you in your decision process provide all information of each cacao with its identity!

28/09/2025

🌱To organic or not to organic?

📈📉 Over the past 2 years, the cacao has navigating extreme turbulences. Climate shocks, crop diseases, historic price fluctuations. On top of that the EU has been updating legislation. EUDR, Due Diligence, and as well EU’s Organic Legislation (EU 2018/848).

📍On October 1, 2025, the EU’s Organic Regulation comes into full effect, reshaping the rules for organic cacao.
With organic cacao representing just 2% of global supply, the stakes are high. Producers certified under national systems or private schemes need to restructure their organisations, formalise groups, and implement compliance systems to access to EU Organic market. What was once seen as a relatively accessible value-add is evolving into a for more demanding and costly segment.

Changes in a nutshell:
🔹End of equivalence mechanisms. Non-EU producers can not export anymore under national organic standards deemed equivalent to EU.
🔹New limits on certification holders & group models. Only Coop’s & association can hold certificates, and stricter rules for groups. Farms over 5 ha might need to pass to individual certification.
🔹’Clean’ farms with no traces of historical contamination need a mandatory three-year transition period.
🔹Tighter EU controls raises the bar for auditors, and testing becomes more frequent & accurate, resulting in cash-flow & certification disruptions.

💶 The cumulative effect for producers are increasing complexity, higher administrative burdens & compliance costs, investments in infrastructure, training & repeated testing. For many smallholder farmers and private groups supply of certified organic cacao is at risk.

‼️The new EU rules have intensified pressure for organic cacao, driving up prices and creating supply bottlenecks. Some producers are shifting their focus away from Europe.

⁉️As the deadline looms, the choice is clear: to organic or not to organic? Do you double down on the EU organic logo? Or do you back cacao that’s organic by nature -grown sustainably in agroforestry, but outside the Brussels rulebook?

➡️ What are your thoughts on organic certification?

29/08/2025

🌳 🚢 Cacao Harvests, Shipments & Availabilities — Recap at a Glance!

🏖 With September just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to assess your cacao needs, secure your supply for the buys rush season, and start planning for 2026.

Getting back into the rhythm after summer can feel hectic -so let’s stick to our chocolate-inspired KISS principle: keep it simple and sweet ;-)

📅🌳👨🏽‍🌾 🍫 You’re likely already using Silva Cacao Harvest Guide -a smart planning tool designed to help chocolate makers prepare ahead. In this update, we’re providing a quick yet detailed overview that gives you a clear picture of what’s available now, what’s on the way from our origins, and how you can secure your supply.
While cacao prices have eased slightly, the upcoming season remains challenging, with significant regional differences in availability and pricing -shaped by local demand, competition, and unique market conditions.

🔎 ⛴ That’s why planning ahead is more important than ever. This update offers practical insights into which cacao is currently in stock, what’s sailing or arriving soon, and details on the 2025/26 crops. With clear recommendations on when to secure your needs, pre-book the new season, or top up your stocks, you’ll be perfectly positioned to move confidently and smoothly into the sweet season ahead.

We’ve pulled everything together in one quick insight so you know:
🔸 What’s available right now
🔸What’s on the way from origin
🔸When & how to secure your cacao in time

With the season picking up, it’s a great time to secure your cacao!
👉🏾Have a look at our latest newsletter and recap & Reach out to our cacao team to book or pre-book your supply and stay on top of your cacao needs.

https://mailchi.mp/silva-cacao/harvests-shipments-availabilities-lets-recap

03/08/2025

🇻🇪 SILVA CACAO’s VENEZUELAN 360°: STORIES, DISCOVERIES & OFFERINGS

🌎 Some of the world’s most aromatic and genetically diverse cacao varieties originate in Venezuela - shaped over centuries by traditional cultivation and the natural rhythms of the land.

📈📉 Venezuela was once the world’s largest cacao producer in the 17th century under the Spanish Empire, today accounts for less than 1% of global production. Remarkably, the country produces roughly the same volume it did three centuries ago, and is expected to reach to 20,000 MT in the near future.

💎 This seeming paradox -modest output yet immense reputation, is exactly what makes Venezuelan cacao so fascinating. Its significance lies not in scale, but in identity, flavour, and a legacy deeply woven into the land. Venezuela’s cacao landscape is as rich and complex as the chocolate it inspires -shaped by centuries of tradition, regional character, and passionate producers.

🌱 Our recent journey through this remarkable country offered an intimate look at the people, places, and stories behind the exceptional cacaos we source at SILVA CACAO. While no single trip can capture everything this origin has to offer, we’ve gathered some highlights -regions, farms, and names you may already recognise, or soon will, as part of our growing portfolio.

➡️ We invite you to explore the diversity from the areas of Sur de Lago, Carabobo with his multiple micro-regions, the Caribbean Coast, Aragua with it’s famous Chuao and Choroni cacao and the diverse rainforest area in the remote Amazon region where indigenous groups work with cacao according to old traditions and rhythm of rivers and nature.

💞🇻🇪After all, cacao with an identity isn’t just a motto. It’s the foundation of what we seek, celebrate, and share -from bean to bar.

Adres

Antwerp
2000

Telefoon

+32495438830

Website

http://www.silva-cacao.com/

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Silva-cacao: a new beginning

Why Silva-cacao? Silva means forest or woods in Latin, which emphasizes the origin of cacao trees native to lowland rainforests of the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. SILCO NV is the continuation of the wonderful story of SILCO SA, started 25 years ago in Paris by Sylvie Guillaume in fine cacao sourcing and sales. We are a small operation, based in Antwerp, Belgium "the country of chocolates". With our brand "SILVA – cacao with an identity", we source exceptional cacao across the globe, connecting exceptional cacao producers and passionate chocolatemakers. We work directly with the cocoa producers to assess quality and import and distribute their harvest worldwide. We supply craft chocolate makers with a variety of gourmet cacao offers, each with a unique flavour profile and story behind. A story about the farmers, their environment, their families and their challenges. The way how we do this is different: we make direct and transparent price agreement with the farmers, paying premium prices for quality. This allows the farmers to invest in their own future and have a decent living.