“We saw the potential of elevating the fine chocolate market in the Philippines and an opportunity to pursue our shared dream to move back home and contribute,” says Go.
Auro launched in 2017 as a “tree-to-bar” chocolate brand and social enterprise that espouses community development programs and premiums above commodity price for supporting farmers. To win the trust of consumers for chocolate products grown and made in the Philippines, Go and her team needed to keep abreast of mandatory and procedural requirements to ship their products to the EU.
Go realized that with European chocolatiers developing a taste for Auro’s products, being able to export to the EU means that Philippine cacao can compete globally with other well-known chocolate brands.Thanks to the EU’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences that removes import duties from products of developing countries, Auro was able to competitively price its products vis-à-vis other brands.