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A assorted box of luxury homemade Belgian chocolates is on display at Sandrine, a chocolate factory owned by Niaz Mardan in London.
ACCRA, Ghana >> Shoppers will find a bitter wonder in their Easter baskets this year. Eggs and chocolate bunnies are more expensive than ever, as climate change weighs on cocoa materials globally and farmers’ incomes in West Africa.
About three-quarters of the world’s cocoa production (the main element of chocolate) is produced on cocoa trees in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Cameroon. But the Sahara’s dusty seasonal winds have been fierce in recent months, blocking out the sunlight. for the bean pods to grow. Last season, heavy rains spread a decay disease.
With exports from Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer, falling by a third in recent months, the global value of cocoa has fallen sharply. Cocoa futures values have already doubled this year, trading at a record high of more than $10,000 a ton. in New York on Tuesday, after a drop of more than 60% last year. Farmers who harvest cocoa beans say the increases are not enough to cover declining yields and higher production costs.
Still, the increased demand for chocolate at Easter is a potential gift for giant confectionery companies. The world’s leading manufacturers in Europe and the United States have more than passed on the high costs of cocoa to consumers. Hershey Company’s profit margins increase to 16. 7% in 2023 from 15. 8% in 2022. Mondelez International, which owns the Toblerone and Cadbury brands, reported a jump to 13. 8% in 2023 from 8. 6% a year earlier.
“Consumers will most likely see an increase in the costs of chocolate candy this Easter,” Wells Fargo said in a report this month.
Mondelez said it raised the price of chocolate by up to 15% last year and would increase the price further to help meet profit expansion forecasts for 2024. “Price is obviously a key component of this plan,” it said. in January the financial director, Luca Zaramella. “His contribution will be a little less than what we have noticed in 2023, but it is higher than an average year. “
Hershey’s also raised product costs last year and didn’t rule out additional increases. “Given the evolution of cocoa costs, we will use any and all tools at our disposal, adding prices, as a way to run the business,” said Michele Buck. Hershey’s chairman and chief executive officer said on a conference call with investors last month.
Consumer teams are monitoring the situation. In the UK, UK-based company and customer studios Which?found that chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies from popular brands like Lindt and Toblerone are costing about 50% more this year. He said some sweet eggs were also smaller.
Cocoa is traded on a regulated global market. Farmers sell to local distributors or processing plants, who then sell their cocoa products to global chocolate companies. Prices are set up to a year in advance. Many farmers blame climate change for their poor harvests. Cacao trees grow near the equator and are particularly sensitive to climate change.
“Harmattan was severe at the time the pods were intended to grow,” said Fiifi Boafo, a spokesperson for the Ghana Cocoa Board, referring to the industry’s cold winds that bring in enough dust to block the sunlight needed for the trees to bloom and produce. beans.
The rainy months are also attributed to black pod disease, a fungal infection that appears in colder, wetter and cloudier climates, and causes the pods to rot and harden.
“Although today we have intelligent value, it is not that. Cocoa hasn’t even borne fruit,” Eloi Gnakomene, a cocoa farmer in Côte d’Ivoire, said last month. “People say they gave us something, but the other people who live there didn’t get anything. »
Opanin Kofi Tutu, a cocoa farmer from the eastern Ghanaian city of Suhum, said the production shortfall, coupled with rising fertilizer prices, are making it difficult for him to survive. “The exchange rate opposite the dollar is killing us,” he said.
Chocolate is rarely one of the traditions Tutu associates with Easter. “I’m ahead of my wife’s kotomir and banana, not chocolates,” he said, referring to a local sauce made from taro leaves.
To increase production, the government is promoting education on agricultural strategies that can mitigate the effects of climate change, such as the use of irrigation systems. Ghana’s president has also pledged to intervene to ensure that farmers get better conditions.
“With the current trend in the global cocoa price, cocoa farmers can rest assured that they will do what they deserve in the upcoming cocoa season,” President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said last month.
The National Retail Federation, an American industry association, expects spending on Easter to remain high by old standards, despite emerging candy prices. Its most recent survey showed that consumers are expected to spend $3. 1 billion on eggs, chocolate bunnies and other treats this Easter. up from $3. 3 billion a year ago.
In Switzerland, home to the world’s largest chocolate customer per capita, domestic consumption fell last year, falling 1% to 10. 9kg per capita, according to the Chocosuisse industrial deal. He linked the decline to an increase in retail chocolate costs.
The country’s iconic chocolatier, Lindt
“The Lindt Group Model
Still, some small businesses that promote chocolate are struggling to keep up with emerging cocoa costs as their sales decline.
Sandrine Chocolates, a London shop that sells handmade Belgian chocolates, is suffering after decades in business. Owner Niaz Mardan said the cost-of-living crisis and the U. K. ‘s weak economy are leaving other people more concerned about food than fancy chocolate. , especially when less expensive opportunities are found in primary grocery stores.
It has laid off its two workers and is counting on Easter and Christmas sales to stay afloat. “A lot of times I have ideas about the ultimate store, but because I love the store, I don’t need to close it. ” said Mardan, 57. But no benefit at all. “
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