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Raw cocoa has become massively more expensive. The reason is crop failures in Ivory Coast and Ghana. While chocolate prices are rising here, cocoa producers in Africa are experiencing real drama.
Since Siaka Sylla has been in the cocoa business, he has never seen his cooperative’s warehouse so empty: “Normally it’s full of cocoa now. But now it’s empty, all the pallets are empty.” The mood is depressed, and not just at Sylla in Hermankono in the south of the Ivory Coast.
Across the country, above-average rainfall has caused blooms to be damaged first. The fruits that were harvested at the end were often rotten inside – as a result of the long period of moisture. “This year we produced less – maybe only a quarter compared to last year,” says farmer Ibrahim from the cooperative.
Gold prospectors are displacing cocoa farmers
Almost half of German imports last year came from Ivory Coast, which is also the world’s largest cocoa producer. Even worse: the second most important cocoa country, neighboring Ghana, is not doing much better. Here the rain led to a massive spread of a fungal disease, the “black pod”, which killed ten percent of the harvest.
And: More and more illegal gold seekers are buying up plantation land. Farmers often sell under economic pressure. The cultivated area has now noticeably shrunk. The gold boom is often accompanied by water poisoning and deforestation – the land becomes unusable for a long time.
Rising prices for cocoa, sugar and chocolate
The result of all these problems is drastically increasing prices for raw materials. In Germany, import prices for cocoa beans and cocoa bean nibs increased by almost 54 percent in October compared to the previous year, and for cocoa mass and cocoa butter it was more than 27 percent. Because you need sugar to make chocolate, it ultimately plays a role in producer prices. German producer prices for sugar rose by 26 percent in the same period, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
Not all good prospects for chocolate lovers in front of the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the German confectionery industry rolled 167 million Santa Clauses off the production line for the high holiday. That is only one percent less than in the previous year, although the production costs per hollow chocolate body increased by twelve percent in October compared to the previous year. The consumer in Germany – he will probably rub his eyes at the supermarket checkout.
The climate crisis is becoming more and more noticeable
But others will really suffer: the producing countries and, above all, their growers. Climate change is leaving its mark, the extent of which cannot yet be estimated. In addition, there is high inflation throughout the region. Everything together leads to a revenue crisis, which could make it difficult to buy fertilizers, pesticides and use helpers in the plantations, even for the next harvest.
Many farmers will probably not be able to celebrate Jesus’ birthday, one of the most important Christian festivals in Ivory Coast, without any worries. “The children have to go to school. But if the cocoa harvest is bad, how can we send our children to school?” complains Monique Koffi Amenan, a member of the cocoa cooperative.