Our love of chocolate and chocolate products has never been so much out in the open. We love chocolate on holidays, family functions, when we are sick, when we are not sick, when its cold outside or heck, may be when its hot outside.
All this to say, that yes we love chocolate.
But recently there has been reports and news and articles where everybody seems to be worried about the rising prices of chocolate and how cacao beans may be finishing up entirely. Well, its not entirely!
But yes, there has been a shortage of cacao beans and here are 3 reasons I think why:-
There has been a dry spell in the area which produces the cacao beans the most
Most of the world’s cacao beans come from the Ivory cost and the Ghana region. Well, in the past 2-3 years there has been quite a dry spell in these regions. Cacao beans need a more humid climate to mature, at least until they are picked off from the tree. And these dry spells are not helping.
There are many more diseases which are affecting the cacao pods
As it is, there are many diseases which affect the cacao pods and the tree itself. But in the recent years more diseases have come out, effectively damaging 50% of Cacao outputs. These diseases include swollen shoot caused by Cacao Swollen Shoot Virus (CSSV) and Vascular Streak Dieback , caused by the fungus, Oncobasidium theobromae.
The Swollen shoot diseases effects the crop primarily in West Africa and Vascular Streak Dieback affects in Asia. These 2 alone are the reason for damage of around 50,000 metric tones to 1,00,000 metric tones of Cacao pods being wasted.
And there are other diseases too, like black pod which is the main culprit, witches broom and frosty pod. These all diseases combined, wipe out roughly half of cacao pods being manufactured world wide.
And the final one- We love chocolate!
Yes, you read it right. Our love for chocolate itself is increasing the prices of chocolate. How you ask? Well, I will tell you.
Cacao pods are not a very fast turnaround crops, like say, wheat or rice. A cacao tree, will need at least 10 years for its first pod to come on.
But we love chocolate don’t we. So in the recent years as our purchasing power has increased, the demand for chocolates has also increased. But the supply is not there !
Simply to say, the demand is more but supply is less. And you know what happens when demand is more and supply is less, don’t you? Yes, the prices go up.
In recent years there has been a shortfall of 70,000 metric tones in supply. And this will increase in the coming years.
Conclusion
All this, I am not saying any body to stop eating chocolate. I mean apart from our love, the pod has got some proven medicinal qualities too. And pathologists are working tirelessly to find cure for the diseases, to increase the output. What I am saying is it would be a bleak future if chocolate does becomes a luxury.
rudvik engineers 