Skyrocketing prices for cocoa which exceeded 10 thousand dollars per ton for the first time during the Easter week.
160 billion market, only 20 go to producers
The surge in raw materials has obviously also increased that of processed products, including Easter eggs, especially in Europe, which is the largest consumer of cocoa in terms of consumption and use, with Italy being third in the world in the processing sector. After oil and coffee, cocoa is the third largest global market in terms of value in terms of raw materials with a turnover of 160 billion euros. Of these only 20 go to producing countries.
Decline in production in Ivory Coast due to climate change
Most of the cocoa comes from Ivory Coast (45% of the total). The problem is due to climate change, production has dropped considerably and of that 45%, 36% are missing. Cocoa beans are affected by sudden changes in climate, furthermore the too low prices paid to farmers have not made it possible to replace many plants, attacked by parasites and, therefore, even weaker in the face of the effects of climate change which has been felt in those areas. The result was a sharp drop in production of 350 thousand tonnes which led to a surge in prices.
In Italy the chocolate turnover is worth 2 billion euros
A consumer association, Codacons, said that in the last year there have been increases in prices for Easter eggs, with increases between 16% and 24% compared to last year, with peaks of up to 40%. Repercussions are now also expected on other chocolate-based products, which in Italy record a consumption of around 2 kilograms per person and a turnover of more than 2 billion euros per year. As mentioned, the origin of the price growth it is linked to the market. The third year of disappointing harvests and therefore the scarcity of the product had already brought cocoa to 6 thousand dollars a ton in February: just think that a year ago it was 2,500 dollars.
But the surge in prices is also linked to financial mechanisms: just like cryptocurrencies or the stock market, commodities can also be traded. Second Bloombergwhat is happening for cocoa is similar to what happened on European energy markets in the summer of 2022 when the price of electricity and gas shot to historic highs.