You might want to stock up on chocolate for Easter pronto — because chocolate prices are likely bound to explode very soon. According to Food & Wine, cocoa prices are at a 47-year high. What caused this?
Inflation plays a part, but the bigger issue at hand is that cocoa cultivation in both Africa — specifically Ghana and the Ivory Coast — and Ecuador has reportedly become much more complicated due to climate change, as well as drier weather patterns and rainfall changes. In addition, there was a shortage of cocoa "due to that unfavorable weather coupled with crop disease and smuggling" in Ghana; the smuggling is thought to have accounted for approximately 600 million in lost revenue as per the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
