The price of cocoa beans, already on a steady rise over the past two years, surged to unprecedented levels in March, surpassing $10,000 per tonne for the first time in history, increasing by 2.4 times since the beginning of the year.
According to the International Cocoa Organization, production is expected to fall short of demand by 374,000 tonnes by 2024, while Swiss-based producer Barry Callebaut expects a gap of about 500,000 tonnes, or about one-tenth of the global market.
What are the reasons for this price increase, and what does it entail?