The bitter truth in the cocoa world, decoded

Chocolate craving has become a lot more expensive to satisfy. Driven by crop failures in the largest producer countries of Ivory Coast and Ghana, global prices of cocoa have soared to historically high levels. Since June 2023, the price of cocoa beans—essential for chocolate production—has surged 133% in international markets. Contributing to this increase are adverse weather conditions and a serious crop disease affecting cocoa plant roots in the two main producer countries. Speculation by commodity traders has exacerbated the spike in international prices. India produced about 30,000 tonnes of cocoa in 2022-23. This, however, is not enough to meet domestic demand.

That same year, India imported about 26,000 tonnes of cocoa beans, 23,400 tonnes of cocoa butter and 48,100 tonnes of cocoa powder—all of which are used to make chocolate. In line with international prices, India’s average import prices of all three cocoa variants have risen in recent months. The ministry of agriculture has forecast that cocoa production for 2023-24 will remain at about the same levels as 2022-23.

The forecast for acreage on which cocoa is grown is similar. With no increase in domestic supply in the immediate term, domestic farm prices have risen sharply as well, tripling in less than two months. While the global rise in cocoa prices is unprecedented, it comes after years of fairly low and stable cocoa prices. While this was good for consumers, it hit farming livelihoods in the main producing countries.