Chocolate Manufacturers Panic as Cocoa Prices Skyrocket

A sharp rise in the price of cocoa in recent months has left lovers of the sweet treat wondering if they should stock up. A tonne of the precious cocoa beans—or ‘brown gold,’ as it is sometimes known—reached $12,000 last month. Last year, a tonne would have cost about a third of that. For much of 2022, the price hovered at just over $2,000 per tonne. Around four-fifths of the world’s cocoa (the basis of chocolate) is grown in West Africa, particularly Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The rest is made up of states like Indonesia, Ecuador, Brazil, and the…