According to a new report, the futures for cocoa beans are rising fast. This could impact economies that rely heavily on cocoa bean sales, such as Ghana and Ecuador.
Experts are pointing to several global issues, such as tree diseases and unpredictable weather. To make matters worse, global demand for the delicious bean and its products is higher than normal.
More on the Chocolate Price Surge
This year marks the third year of global cocoa deficits. That’s a difficult pill to swallow for many industries, from candy manufacturers to cocoa farms.
Next season, 2024 – 2025, is also looking like it may be a year of deficits for the global cocoa industry. In two locations, London and New York, prices reached their highest on record this year, at close to $12,000 per tonne in May.
For buyers of cocoa butter and cocoa powder, key ingredients in chocolate production, this means high uncertainty. The outlook for chocolate producers and stable prices for consumers remains bleak.
Another negative consequence of the recent price fluctuations is environmental. To catch up to the growing demand and have more luck standing up to nature, growers are expected to increase pesticide and fertilizer use for new trees.
Top Global Cocoa Producers
The Cocoa bean is a tropical plant native to the Amazon and, through trade, quickly spread throughout tropical South America and Central America. Chocolate most famously took hold in ancient Mexico as a sacred beverage. It was there where the colonizing Spanish tried it and the rest is history.
Today, several countries around the world rely on chocolate and cacao production. The top producers are:
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Ghana
- Ecuador
- Cameroon
- Nigeria
- Indonesia
- Brazil
- Papua New Guinea