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The cause of the scarcity is a lack of quality and climate change. Also, for some months now, demand on the international market has been greater than supply. As the price of cocoa remained very low, many cocoa farmers abandoned their plantations or did not maintain them sufficiently, resulting in aging plantations and falling yields
In recent weeks, cocoa has become scarce on the international market, pushing the price per tonne to over USD10,000. For the three cocoa-producing countries of Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Cameroon, where cocoa beans are in short supply, the impact has also been enormous as also for the global chocolate industry.
The cause of the scarcity is a lack of quality and climate change. Also, for some months now, demand on the international market has been greater than supply. As the price of cocoa remained very low, many cocoa farmers abandoned their plantations or did not maintain them sufficiently, resulting in aging plantations and falling yields.
Coupled with climate change characterized by very heavy rains and flooding, cocoa production took a severe hit. As a result, the price per kilo in Cameroon has risen seven-fold in just one month, from 900 to 7,000 francs. This is very bad news for local processors like Tchoffo, who is now running out of raw material. Cocoa constitutes 40 to 90 percent of the chocolate, depending on the brand of the product. So, cocoa prices have a great bearing on the prices of chocolates.
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As an urgent solution, the governments of cocoa-producing countries are promising to provide farmers with financial assistance in the coming days so that they can produce healthy cocoa that meets standards on both the local and international markets. Some chocolate makers already halting production until costs come down, and manufacturers are now demanding that an export tax be paid back to them to ease their financial woes.
