Posted on 11/17/2014 10:38:15 AM PST by Bettyprob
There's no easy way to say this: You're eating too much chocolate, all of you. And it's getting so out of hand that the world could be headed towards a potentially disastrous scenario if it doesn't stop.
Those are, roughly speaking, the words of two huge chocolate makers, Mars, Inc. and Barry Callebaut. And there's some data to back them up.
Chocolate deficits, whereby farmers produce less cocoa than the world eats, are becoming the norm. Already, we are in the midst of what could be the longest streak of consecutive chocolate deficits in more than 50 years. It also looks like deficits aren't just carrying over from year-to-year—the industry expects them to grow. Last year, the world ate roughly 70,000 metric tons more cocoa than it produced. By 2020, the two chocolate-makers warn that that number could swell to 1 million metric tons, a more than 14-fold increase; by 2030, they think the deficit could reach 2 million metric tons.
The problem is, for one, a supply issue. Dry weather in West Africa (specifically in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, where more than 70 percent of the world's cocoa is produced) has greatly decreased production in the region. A nasty fungal disease known as frosty pod hasn't helped either. The International Cocoa Organization estimates it has wiped out between 30 percent and 40 percent of global coca production. Because of all this, cocoa farming has proven a particularly tough business, and many farmers have shifted to more profitable crops, like corn, as a result.
Then there's the world's insatiable appetite for chocolate. China's growing love for the stuff is of particular concern. The Chinese are buying more and more chocolate each year. Still, they only consume per capita about 5 percent of what the average Western European eats.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
If only we had a means of encouraging people to produce more of a scarce item and discouraging people from consuming it. Wait, there might be...I think it’s called “price.”
Exactly.
B-b-b-but, that sounds like something from Market Economics! The horror!
How much of the price of “chocolates” is the actual chocolate in them? If the price of raw chocolate doubled, would that mean Hershey bars would cost twice as much too?
There is no shortage of places where one can grow cocoa.
Just let prices rise and new sources will come in.
The Philippines for instance could easily make a go of it.
We used to have that as an understory cop beneath our coconut trees. Ultimately there was more money running cattle there, but all that is a matter of pricing.
This is simply not acceptable.
More people will begin to farm chocolate. And when enough of that happens, prices will top off.
world’s biggest chocolate-maker wants to jack up the prices big time
You heartless capitalist pig, you. How are the poor supposed to afford chocolate if you raise prices? We will need a government subsidy program to provide chocolate grants to those at 150% of the poverty level and below, and we need to levy a chocolate production surtax on the greedy chocolate corporations to pay for it.
Last month I had to quit eating chocolate due problems digesting the product. The streaks on my cheeks are from the tears shed over the loss of a great daily comfort of many years. SIIIIIIIIIIIGH no person should ever have to go without, but I’m tough, and will hang in there.
After reading this article I take solace in the fact there should now be considerably more on the market now for everyone else.
You mean incentive based on price signals and demand! The horror! :-)
Now where the heck am I gonna get me some chocolate seeds? I've been looking inside the chocolates but every time I try it I end up eating them instead. I've found almonds and macadamia nuts but no chocolate seeds so far. Gotta keep trying, no matter how long it takes.
Chocolate fanciers are going to be faced with a horrible question; Eat the GMO chocolate, or avoid it altogether.
The end is near...
” Last year, the world ate roughly 70,000 metric tons more cocoa than it produced. “
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Thank You, rqsr. I appreciate your sacrifice and sincerely hope it takes care of the problem. ;-)
The excess was stockpiles.
Try carob sweets, they are a fair approximation to chocolate.
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