The price increase is likely to hit consumers even harder next year as chocolate makers run out of their cheaper supplies, reports Economx.

The price of cocoa increased by 70 percent in 2023. By the end of the year, its listing on the London Stock Exchange rose to 3,506 British pounds (nearly HUF 1,550,000) per ton.

Price rises are likely to hit shoppers even harder next year as chocolate makers run out of their cheaper supplies and begin to pass on much of the rally to consumers

– reported Bloomberg, mentioning that at the beginning of the year, due to the merciless rains, the cocoa pods on many plantations rotted, so production fell in West Africa.

The concentration of cocoa supply leaves little scope for alternative producers to make up the shortfall anyway. About 60 percent of the production comes from just two countries – Ivory Coast and Ghana. Other countries, such as Brazil and Ecuador, are looking to expand cacao cultivation, although it may take several years for the new trees to bear fruit.

According to Bloomberg, in the short term, lower demand may help cool prices.

Buyers in the European Union are also preparing for new deforestation regulations, which will further increase costs throughout the supply chain.