Chocolate – a universal symbol of comfort, pleasure and celebration – is about to become a luxury good [we have been saying this for years]. This is not a provocation: it is a snapshot of a market on the alert, overwhelmed by unprecedented price increases. In 2024, the cost of cocoa went up 300% wholesale. And the reasons go far beyond the law of supply and demand.
Plantations in West Africa, where most of the world’s cocoa comes from, are increasingly suffering from climate change. High temperatures, erratic rainfall and increasingly difficult biodiversity management are putting the very survival of cacao trees at risk. To this is added an even more worrying phenomenon: some farmers in Ghana are abandoning cocoa to engage in illegal gold mining, a more profitable and immediate activity. The result is a hole in the market: a global shortage of about 500,000 tonnes of cocoa in 2024. A deep crack, which has prompted several companies to ask: can we imagine a future without chocolate – or, rather, without cocoa?
