Chocolate Price Drop?
April 8, 2011
Good news. With the former president of Ivory Coast negotiating an exit strategy with UN authorities, it appears that chocolate prices may be headed down.
Cacao shipments from Ivory Coast had dropped to near zero after the election conflict in late 2010. That's a problem since the country supplies about a third of the world's supply. Because of the reduced supply, prices have been on pretty much a constant increase.
Now that a surrender is being negotiated, cocoa futures prices dropped immediately to the lowest point in the last three months. This is based on the speculation that the 350,000 tons of cacao held in Ivory Coast port warehouses would be released while the European Union removes its trade embargo.
That's a huge supply that could come back into the market. And there's still another 150,000 ton stockpile waiting to go to port. All of this is good news for chocolate lovers everywhere!
The International Cocoa Organization expects that world cocoa production will post a substantial surplus in 2011. So, it sounds like prices may continue to drop for a while.
Perhaps the dropping chocolate prices will help offset the rising gas prices! Well, I suppose that depends on how much chocolate you eat vs. how much you drive. 🙂
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This very interesting, especially since Hershey announced a couple of weeks ago on the possibility of chocolate prices rising because of their costs rising.
It would not surprise me to see them STILL raise their prices. But then, I try and buy Fair Trade chocolate anyways, which the standard Hershey bar is NOT.