Chinese Chocoholics Could Cause Catastrophic Cocoa Crisis


The world is facing a potential crisis over the supply of cocoa – and, as with many things today, it’s all the fault of the Chinese.

The price of chocolate is expected to soar in the near future as increasing demand outstrips supply, and experts are predicting that by 2020 the price will be unsustainable. This is due, fundamentally, to a growing taste for chocolate in Asia, especially China.

What this means is that either cocoa farmers will need more help to increase production for export, or manufacturers will be simply forced to use less cocoa in their products. They will have to use substitute “fillers” to bulk up the product, such as nuts or fruit.

This news was broken over the recent Easter weekend, which is a time when chocolate consumption receives a boost with increased consumption of chocolate Easter Eggs and Bunnies. The majority of the World’s cocoa farms are situated along the west coast of Africa. It is alleged that many farmers are subsisting on less than $2 per day.

Last December, the International Cocoa Organization announced that there could be a 150,000 tonne deficit of the amount of cocoa beans produced in 2014. It said that global cocoa supplies were suffering the longest production shortfall in more than fifty years.

Because of the rising demand, the cocoa market is witnessing unprecedented price hikes. In Asia, the chocolate market is already worth more than $12 billion – and demand continues to increase.

Last month, cocoa prices reached a two and a half year high of around $3000 per tonne in London and New York. If nothing is done to help cocoa production, the crisis will become unsustainable.

Mondelez International – a multinational confectionery conglomerate – plans to invest more than $400 million over the next ten years in an effort to ameliorate the crisis. It proposes to pour millions into helping improve the productivity and life of cocoa farmers in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, India and the Dominican Republic.

Chris McGrath, who heads up the Cocoa Life program at Mondelez, said in a response to The Times: “We realized that there was a long-term supply shortage. Farmers are ageing and I don’t see the next generation behind them. We have to help transform the chain.”

The International Cocoa Organization announced that plans were in place to help cultivation in Indonesia.

Because investment in the cocoa processing factories is growing at a fast rate in the country, the Government is considering canceling the tax on cocoa bean imports. This is due to the fact that production levels have fallen short in fueling the country’s domestic grinding requirements.

Chocoholics of the world will need to unite against very real threat posed by the overwhelming numbers of Chinese Chocoholics.

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