Bad news for chocolate lovers. As a result of the explosion in cocoa prices on world markets (+62% in 2023), the retail price of chocolate will continue to increase a few weeks before the Easter holidays.
At the origin of this spectacular increase: several plant diseases, such as fungal rotwhich destroy crops on a large scale, particularly in West Africa.
A drop in production which particularly affects Côte d’Ivoire and its neighbor Ghana, which together supply more than half of the world’s demand for cocoa.
On his farm, 250 km northwest of Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast, Olivier Gnakomene realized too late that his cocoa crop was infected by a fungal disease. And, despite efforts to combat its spread with a fungicide, this year’s harvest looks pitiful.
As the major cocoa campaign, which began in October 2023, comes to an end at the end of March, cocoa producers in the village of Dodjagnoa say they are devastated.
Black rot fungal disease is just one of many diseases affecting farmers. Its spread is favored by soils soaked by months of incessant rain.
Another major problem in Ghana and Ivory Coast is the cocoa swollen shoot virus, spread by insects. It is generally controlled by completely felling infected trees. Which also contributes to lowering production.
With harvests so low, farmers in the region face great difficulties and demand aid especially since their production is exchanged at a high price on world markets carried by agrowing demand for chocolateparticularly in Asia.
The global cocoa and chocolate market is expected to grow from a value of $48 billion in 2022 to nearly $68 billion by 2029according to analysts at Fortune Business Insights.