|
Listen now
|
Cocoa extended its surge — surpassing $9,000 a ton for the first time ever — as a supply crunch grips the market and chocolate makers grapple for beans.
Futures are up about 50% this month alone and have more than doubled already this year. Poor harvests on the back of bad weather and crop disease in West African growers, where most of the world’s cocoa is grown, and little sign of production relief elsewhere have left the industry in a bind.
The rally has sent prices toward $10,000 — a level that seemed unthinkable only a few months ago — and even made cocoa more expensive than bellwether industrial metal copper.
Cocoa’s advance will feed through into higher chocolate costs throughout the year.
Futures rose as much as 5.2% to $9,400 in New York. Prices have kept climbing despite a technical gauge being in overbought territory for much of the last couple of months. Cocoa in London also climbed.
“Chocolate may be even more expensive in Easter 2025, if cocoa-tree diseases and inclement weather prolong the deficit amid high sugar prices,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Diana Gomes said in a note on Friday.
Focus is now turning to West Africa’s upcoming mid-crop, the smaller of two annual harvests.
Follow the MoneyCentral Nigeria channel on WhatsApp: Click here!