As Easter approaches, stores are stocking their shelves with chocolate enthusiasts' favourite sweet treat, the cocoa-based confection at the centre of this festive season.
Cocoa contracts — the world benchmark for the global cocoa market — last week reached an unprecedented $7,060 per metric ton, doubling since November and surpassing the record highs of $3,830 in 2011 and $5,110 in 1977. Despite the rising cost of chocolate, Charlebois said global demand for cocoa remains high as chocolate gains popularity in the emerging middle class of fast-growing economies, while speculative trading further inflates prices.Consumers are already feeling the impacts of these challenges as manufacturers, retailers and chocolatiers pass down their increased costs.
In the case of chocolate, Charlebois said "skimpflation" involves replacing cocoa with artificial flavours and other novel ingredients, subtly altering ingredient lists without most consumers noticing. Skimpflation is harder to trace and presents a new challenge for discerning consumers.Thanks to the damage caused by black pod disease to trees in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, Charlebois said he, like Roberts, doesn't expect the price of cocoa to return to normal any time soon.
"As consumers in Canada we're spoiled," Charlebois said. "We import food from all over the world without really thinking twice about it. But now I think that people need to understand the global risks related to producing food, no matter where it's from.
Since reporting on old fines tanking the credit scores of thousands of Ottawans and former residents, CTV News has received a flood of similar accounts from people claiming the city and its contracted collection agencies did not do enough to contact them before their credit score was slashed.A man allegedly shot three of his relatives in Toronto, killing two of them, in an incident that began at a home and spilled onto a busy downtown street Tuesday afternoon, Toronto police said.
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Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)