International cocoa prices have experienced a historic price surge, rising by over 300% in the space of 12 months from £2,166 per tonne of cocoa in April 2023 to £9,980 by April 2024. Prices have fallen since then, and are currently hovering around the £6,400 mark at the time of writing.
This rally, which is the highest on record for cocoa, was driven by poor harvests in the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Powerful El Niño weather events, coupled with years of underinvestment that left Ghana’s cocoa trees vulnerable to diseases, have decimated yields.
