Chocolate lovers already experiencing high prices should prepare for further increases as global cocoa supply reaches its lowest point in 20 years. However, attention should also be drawn to West African cocoa farmers who are struggling with adverse weather conditions, devastating crop diseases, and pressure from both local and international governments while not benefiting adequately from the price surge.
Chocolate lovers already feeling the sting of high prices should brace for worse: costs will continue to rise as global cocoa supplies are at their lowest level in two decades.
Consumer Price Index data showed year-on-year inflation is 4.6 per cent in snacks and confectionery. This follows a similar price increase that hit in the June quarter of 2023 and Rabobank said the cumulative price rise was 22 per cent from June 2022 and June 2024.But Rabobank commodity analyst Paul Joules said a chronic global shortage of cocoa supplies, the key ingredient in chocolate, means the “the worst is still yet to come for consumers”.
Rabobank said cocoa prices rocketed upwards earlier this year, when cocoa that had been selling for around $3000 a tonne for the past few years shot up to $12,000 a tonne. They have been buffeted by poor weather, crippling crop diseases, and now they are grappling with the need to prove they can comply with a new law in one of their biggest markets, the European Union, that will ban products that cannot prove they are“We’re seeing that the trees are generally ageing due to poor husbandry we’re seeing a lot of disease, which has effectively wiped out a lot of the crop,” Joules said.
Chocolate Prices Cocoa Supply Inflation Agriculture Consumer Goods
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
African nations hit by mpox still waiting for vaccines – despite promises by the westLast week’s planned rollout of doses faces further delays as campaigners complain of greed and inequality
Read more »
Cookathons and speechathons: the west African boom in obscure world record attemptsGuinness World Record attempts have risen sharply in the last year and a half – but controversy has followed
Read more »
A 'wild west': Why Israel has launched its biggest operation in the West Bank for monthsThe operation has drawn criticism from United Nations secretary-general António Guterres and the United Nations Human Rights Office.
Read more »
However you slice it, it’s inevitable which teams are going to make the grand finalThe Roosters and Sharks have to throw convention out the door if they’re to trouble the two premiership heavyweights.
Read more »
However you slice it, it’s inevitable which teams are going to make the grand finalThe Roosters and Sharks have to throw convention out the door if they’re to trouble the two premiership heavyweights.
Read more »
Bitter sweets: chocolate to cost more for Australians as cocoa prices hit 50-year peakConsumers may see chocolate bars become smaller or drop in quality if companies try shrinkflation or skimpflation to cut cost, researcher says
Read more »