A new price maximum for cocoa beans has been reached in electronic stock trading. One ton is trading for 12,987 USD, business portal FXStreet reported.
This year, cocoa bean prices have increased by 206%.
The main reason for the continued rise in prices is the low harvest of cocoa beans this year in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, which account for 60% of the world's production.
The harvest was lost both due to adverse weather conditions and a massive disease of cocoa bean trees. Cocoa producers in African countries lack investments to renew their plantations. As a result, in the current agricultural year, the global deficit of cocoa beans amounts to 500,000 tons, which is the largest figure for the last 60 years.
The increase in stock prices is expected to lead to a further increase in the price of chocolate, as well as a whole group of sweets and confectionery products that use cocoa beans. Cocoa will also become more expensive.
Meanwhile, manufacturers of chocolate and chocolate products are trying to maintain their competitiveness by increasing the use of various additives in their products. Thus, they are trying to avoid a sharp increase in prices.