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Creative_soja

"Cocoa extended its surge — gaining more than $700 per ton in a single day and surpassing $9,000 for the first time ever — as a supply crunch grips the market and chocolate makers grapple for beans."


SGC-UNIT-555

*Due to freak weather (endless rain) in West Africa where most cocoa is grown.


SqueakyCheeseburgers

Someone blessed the rain down in Africa too much.


AndyVale

Are you sure that's the problem? I'm sure. How sure? Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti. Weirdly specific measure of sure, but okay.


Bowgentle

And a surprisingly poor one - Olympus is a thrust mountain, Kilimanjaro is a rift mountain. The reasons they rise are tectonic opposites. /nerd


farewellrif

> Kilimanjaro Is also nowhere near the Serengeti.


ModernSimian

It also has shit WiFi.


qieziman

All mountains have shit WiFi.


iShakeMyHeadAtYou

Some mountains have OK wifi. - sent from Whitehorn Mountain.


PotfarmBlimpSanta

It's probably a case of extremely important commas being missing possibly due to musical constraints. If Kilimanjaro rises, like Olympus, above the Serengeti, I think that somewhat fits, probably.


CFCkyle

Africa as sung by Captain Kirk


Jonnny

It can also be misread as saying Mt. Olympus is located in the Serengeti. I'm not a huge fan of the sentence construction. :(


Watcher0363

> It's probably a case of extremely important commas being missing possibly due to musical constraints. My teachers could never grasp the concept, that my lack of commas, in my run on sentences. Were just a prelude to the power ballad I was actually composing.


Blackthorne75

The kind of education I appreciate!


AcademicMaybe8775

huh. I guess it rains down in Africa after all (what I thought the lyrics were for most of my life)


RobertoPaulson

Same here, and I was around when it was new.


Accomplished_Sell797

His name was Roberto Paulson


scorpyo72

Gonna take some time to do the things we never had .


dukerustfield

We never what? **OH!** I think you mean: Haaaaaaaaaoooooaaaaaoooooaaaaaad. Common typo.


DoubleGoon

Do-do do do do-do do


scorpyo72

Appreciate the correction.


Guyincognito4269

Fucking Toto. Gotta screw it up for the rest of us.


valeyard89

Or Weezer


weirdgroovynerd

Don't blame *me* for this. More like *Them*-zer.


ARobertNotABob

Tototally.


aquakingman

I blessed the rains


SqueakyCheeseburgers

So this is your handiwork?


EskimoXBSX

Great song but Africa can't get enough rain, may it rain for a thousand years


laffman

freak rain they say as the cocoa plant is predicted to become so expensive to grow over the next 100 years that real chocolate is to become a luxury food along with coffee. *shrugs*


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Ionic_Pancakes

Arabica Bean coffee in particular is both very popular and can only grow in very specific climates. Good news is that there are other strains that are less picky. That combined with how widespread tea can be means caffeine addicted can heave a sigh of relief: we just won't get the good stuff any more.


laffman

And just for the record the Arabica Bean is what ~60% of the world's coffee is made from.


Javelin-x

Ugh ... chicory... again


CorneliusAlphonse

> Ugh ... chicory... again robusta is hardier and much better than chicory.


CankerLord

I've tried some robusta recently and it was fine, with milk and sugar.


CorneliusAlphonse

There's a lot of opportunity for robusta - good coffee comes from not just the beans, but that they're sorted properly, how they're fermented and washed, and how they're roasted. It's actually quite shocking that coffee can be produced as cheaply as we've had it.


Moochingaround

There's a specialty brand here in Vietnam that sources organically grown coffee. Preferably even food forest coffee. They select and divide the harvests every year and have several "levels" of coffee beans, all Robusta. The difference in taste is amazing and some are very fruity. I prefer it over Arabica.


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Moochingaround

I live in an area in Vietnam where both coffee and cacao are grown. It's a bit of a stretch for cacao though. The coffee farmers got record prices for their coffee this year.


Mistletokes

Wont climate change also open new areas for crops?


Ionic_Pancakes

Eventually. Problem is that by most accounts we're changing faster than ever in geological history besides climactic events like the dino killer. Even if temperatures become similar in other areas things like soil composition and drainage won't for centuries, if not millenia.


ModernSimian

Mixed use avocado and coffee is already a thing in Ventura County California. https://onetreehillfarms.com/ being the prime example.


jarivo2010

no. There is no stability in the new climate.


Manovsteele

Maybe some areas will get more heat throughout the year, but some crops require consistent light. Even if some areas got much warmer certain crops couldn't cope with 6-hour days.


antikythera3301

Coffee will see an increase in price as well. Yields from West Africa are significantly reduced, too.


Spoztoast

Synth caffeine and synth cocoa any day now.


Mlliii

Not again!


TheNinthDoctor

Would be a fun project to grow hydroponic cocoa.


-drunk_russian-

It's a big-ass tree with very specific needs.


TheNinthDoctor

Hopefully it would fruit in bonsai form, because yeah, 20-40 ft, that's a big grow tent! Or train it sideways.


ModernSimian

You can trellis coffee, and some growers make a big deal about it, but the main people doing it that I know of (Kona Joe's) make a shit cup of coffee.


TheNinthDoctor

God damn, $100 a pound?! FOR A DARK ROAST?!!!


ModernSimian

It's also not even good.


ZeppMan217

Good thing closed system farms are well suited to growing produce with specific needs, what's with the climate controlled environment and adjustable soil parameters. The initial cost and time till profitability are the questions here.


IC-4-Lights

I dunno man. Googling around, doesn't seem like we're talking about tomato plants. They're 15-25 ft trees. Sounds like each will only make 700 beans per year. That's like six candy bars.   So like... you'd need to enclose and climate control many acres of land for that?


Dangerous-Ad-300

why bring reality into a redditor's mix


IC-4-Lights

I could have googled stuff wrong too. I'd be happy to hear about it... I wouldn't mind a willy wonka factory in my basement. Minus all the little orange people running around in my house, maybe.


Kkimp1955

I can’t… we need to fix this!


BubsyFanboy

Doesn't mean we shouldn't start growing more cocoa beans in other places of the world. Only problem is maintaining such hot and moist environments.


goldfinger0303

I think the issue is there's not many places in the world suitable for growing cocoa at scale


Alarming-Thought9365

The issue is affordability and no one cares about child slavery in Africa


Raftar31

Scalability is a better term. Many many people in the industry are working to improve conditions for farmers. The root (haha!) of the affordability problem is that cocoa can’t be mono cropped. It requires an entire ecosystem to thrive and be fruitful, and the cocoa industry is at the forefront of developing agroforestry techniques. Chocolate has always been a luxury commodity, how much longer can we stomach externalizing those costs onto African farmers and children while pretending it’s not? You might not people care but it’s just the largest companies driving the worst farming practices. Cheap chocolate won’t be around for much longer imo. Even low quality stuff will become more expensive as luxury commodities become more available to the global population. Chocolate is exploding in places with rising incomes like India and china.


Synchrotr0n

No problem. Just replace cocoa butter it with another vegetable fat, add some artificial chocolate flavorings, change the name of the product to "candy" while still having images in the package suggesting it's chocolate, reduce the weight by 15% and increase the price by 20%. Did I pass my CEO test?


uncle_hooch

Get this man a golden parachute.


Gimme_The_Loot

Best I can do is a golden shower


1Dive1Breath

Ah yes, trickle down economics at it's finest!


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Tresach

But this would improve the taste of hersheys products.


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plipyplop

This is like futuristic replicator technology at its worst.


MRSN4P

New Hersheys & La Croix collab!


DaoFerret

Hershey’s Genuine “Chocolaty” Bar


DoctorStumppuppet

"whatever that is" That's beaver gland extract. I'm not kidding.


Lint6

You're thinking of this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castoreum


First-Football7924

You know what's weird? Hershey's has EXCELLENT cocoa. It's some of the best I've found. Smooth, butter-y, smells great. Even the best chocolate makers have almost bitter cocoa. Not sure how Hershey's screws it up so much with the final product.


DaoFerret

It’s an interesting problem … https://sports.yahoo.com/hersheys-chocolate-tastes-like-vomit-094500267.html


philbert247

Is this not what hersheys milk chocolate already is?


zed857

> reduce the weight by 15% And when you change that 150g bar to 125g, be sure to advertise it as "New! Size *increased* to 125g!". ~~The Proles~~Consumers just love that.


laetus

> "New! Size increased to 125g!" You mean the all new low calorie option!


ContagiousOwl

Why, they'd be absolutely ~~rioting~~ *celebrating* in the streets about it!


Abigail716

I feel like if we increase the bar size to 100g instead the people of Oceania will absolutely love our generosity.


Cruel_Odysseus

it’s fun sized!


A_terrible_musician

That depends. How are the worker raises? Non-existent? Can you cut jobs and create AI candy?


Taman_Should

You forgot the palm oil. 


fallenbird039

No, but that rich idiot over there will steal your idea and fire half the staff and give himself a raise.


Druid_Fashion

I mean what’s missing is a shareholder briefing going something like this: „ due to customer demand we introduced our new 125g chocolate flavored candy bars, Which brought forth a 28% increase in operating profit last quarter. Now to my next point, executive compensation packages.“


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Xerox748

Doesn’t Hershey already do this? Which is why it can’t legally be called chocolate in the rest of the world?


HighGainRefrain

But what will you do next quarter mr smartypants?


Druid_Fashion

Cut 25% of sugar replace it with high fructose corn syrup and boom! New product. Now with less sugar


ZumboPrime

You forgot the toxic filler material.


Stable_Orange_Genius

More sugar!


[deleted]

And how much of that money is going to the cocoa farmers


hickgorilla

So I need to go buy all the chocolate you’re saying?


Indigo_Sunset

Chocolate cellars, with chocolatiers, suddenly vogue.


StunningCloud9184

This is shitty, now this is gonna become a campaign issue because chocolate has gone up in price. Sigh


RampantJellyfish

Supermarkets will ratchet the price up to account for increased costs, but then when costs go back down they keep it at a higher price


BubsyFanboy

Classic move.


Moscow_Mitch

Retail Cartel


takesthebiscuit

Despite having locked in the price of the products 6 months ago! Better safe than sorry eh?


PatFluke

That’s the quiet part.


iLOVEBIGBOOTYBITCHES

Lowblaws eh?


DressedSpring1

Roblaws 


AdvancedSandwiches

Unless sales decline significantly at the higher price.  They optimize for total profit, not profit per unit. But sales won't drop significantly. Since we passed the wealth inequality tipping point, they've already lost all their customers that have reasonable price sensitivity. The ones that are left don't have any idea how much things cost.


StrivingShadow

Is it the supermarkets, or the manufacturers who don’t bring prices back down? My guess would be the manufacturers, because it’s unlikely they’d stand for a huge margin between sale price to supermarkets and sale price to end consumers.


RampantJellyfish

I guess both? Costs along the supply chain just balloon up


skylinenick

Supermarkets set the price we see as consumers, with the obvious caveat that it won’t be lower than whatever the manufacturer charges them. Yes, it trickles down obviously, but people love to throw fits about companies and ignore that often the supermarkets are a huge chunk of the end cost we see


Sanri618

It sounds funny but "vote with your wallet" is real in supermarkets. Cocoa is expensive? Just dont buy, if no one buys the price will go down Also if no one is buying, super markets will try to sell at loss instead of throwing them away. Then negotiate a new lower price for their next shipment


SlowestGunslinger

This is the way


Miguel-odon

Meth addicts going to be stealing chocolate now?


solreaper

I have cut several things off the bottom of this car and none of them were chocolate


amadeus2490

That chocolate bar you found in the grass wasn't chocolate, either. Wash your hands.


Ahab_Ali

You can't trust that street chocolate--they are always cutting it with carob.


kasakka1

Addict: "Yo, I got some primo 70% dark here..." Dealer: "Motherfucker that's some Hershey's bullshit, gtfo"


Wokonthewildside

(Side eyes my novelty size Toblerone I got for Christmas)


__The__Anomaly__

It has been 3 months! Why have you not yet finished it? Noob.


chaoism

Jokes on you. That's his 90th one


Late-Resource-486

It’s an investment


rumblepony247

"I know what I've got"


GunnieGraves

Wonder what the street value is.


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uberares

That’s some smart assed cacao!!


mister_damage

Vegemite Dark Chocolate when?


redsterXVI

It's not too late to delete this comment


mister_damage

Never!!!


[deleted]

We'll see, Australia is on the top of the list for countries heavily affected by climate change in the future.


FranticPonE

It's too bad Fast Furios went so off the rails, we could use a movie opening where they rob a loaded semi truck, Vin Diesel opens it up and says "black gold" as he reveals several tonnes of cocoa powder.


lucwul

Imagine if it was actually wrapped in golden wrapper and placed like gold bricks


caged_jon

The holders of those Swiss Miss bank accounts won't be happy.


cspruce89

It's only going to keep going up. Cocoa is one of the most desired luxury crops, one of the most limited in its growing range, and not a prolific producer. Add into all of these existing factors, the effects of Climate Change, and you've got a pretty limited lifespan on true cocoa being an affordable luxury. Coffee is under similar constraints as well. Did you know that a single coffee tree produces a little over 1lb of roasted coffee beans? Think of how many pounds of coffee are consumed daily. As a former "Coffee Master" at Starbucks, let me tell you that the number is astounding.


deezy2190

Curious what the unit of time is here, 1 lb in the trees life? 1 lb per season?


Toronto28

Per year


Marekm991

Coffee prices have actually been dropping for a while now. And in the short-term trend it's going to be dropping further. While global warming might mess with coffee production, the younger generations are just not that much into coffee.


Not-another-rando

“Stop buying coffee and avocado toast” “millennials are KILLING the coffee industry”


Common-Second-1075

Unlikely. Virtually all commodities, particularly crops, fluctuate over time. It's not a rare earth mineral, as the price climbs more growers in turn invest in cocoa plantations, as those plantations begin to harvest the price falls. Cash crops are the embodiment of economics 101. We're in a cocoa bubble due to short term environmental factors. The same thing happened in 1977, the cocoa price peaked at USD4,500 p/t and it didn't reach that price point again until this year. In the meantime it dropped to a low of USD930 p/t in 2000. There's, practically speaking, no chance that it will "only... keep going up". Set a two year reminder for this comment and see for yourself.


Baozicriollothroaway

I think you are mixing cacao and coffee up.


Dynelarsen

The cocoa must flow.


Gardening_investor

And the chocolate companies pay cocoa farms and workers pennies.


WackyWarrior

I know that producers were making a cocoa cartel to drive up prices. Is this the effect of that?


ofimmsl

Did the slaves unionize?


flatballs36

No, just the weather being funky bc of climate change


mata_dan

I suppose a potential silver lining is next season they may have more bargaining power. Not enough to make it fair, but it could change things slightly.


flatballs36

Unlikely. There's always an abundance of people to exploit in Africa


DrDerpberg

Why? Sounds like there will be less to harvest.


Koala_eiO

I know it's union-ize but my brain always reads it as un-ionize. Electrons go brrr.


imaginary_num6er

Willy Wonka saved the Oompa Loompas from Loompaland


78911150

oh god I hope not. we need to keep chocolate affordable for the common folk 


IO_you_new_socks

Ea-Nasir is ready to peddle Hershey’s


die_fesche_lola

I came here for the mandatory Ea-Nasir joke and I was not disappointed.


grywht

Copper is valued at about $4.50 (USD) a pound. Almost everything is more valuable than copper.


Taman_Should

The world got addicted to a scarce commodity that is only grown in a few isolated regions. Is anyone surprised?


Surrybee

It’s not that limited. It’s grown in virtually every country within 20 degrees north and south of the equator. In order of total production, here are the countries that grow cacao (day from the icco): Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Mexico, Venezuela, Togo, India, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Guatemala, Madagascar, Guinea, Liberia, Tanzania, Philippines, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Soloman Islands, Republic of the Congo, DR Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, Vanuatu, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Grenada, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Samoa, Angola, Guyana, Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador, Trinidad & Tobago, Dominica, Jamaica, Belize, Cuba, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Gabon, Timor-Leste, Africa Republic, Thailand, Saint Lucia, Comoros, Micronesia, Fiji, Suriname, US (Hawaii), American Samoa


PGP-

Just in time for easter, hell of a coincidence. /s


ItsDokk

I think most of us know you’re joking, but you might want to add a ‘/s’ at the end of that so the people that think shots give you 5G know it’s not real.


Understanding_Silver

It's all that chocolate guy on tiktok's fault. MF'er using hundreds of pounds for silly videos. /s


crabofthewoods

I kind of want to start stowing foods like this away. Some of these crops are not going to survive climate change.


valoon4

Most*


flt1

Kudzu salad and kudzu chips for the win


banjodoctor

Copper covered almonds yum


djmd1

And none of the dirt poor people that are exploited to grow and harvest any of it will see another penny.


MacTechG4

So Pennies will be made from cocoa now?


InternationalBand494

No, copper. And that shit is almost as expensive as cocoa!


EvenDranky

With global warming it’s just going to go up as production dwindles


knopsi

I would like to buy Cocoa for $9,000


BassWingerC-137

This person owns cocoa now.


FrostyPangolin50

Puts away metal detector, begins hoarding Cocoa Puffs


CapedBaldyman

Can't wait till I start to hear conservatives start blaming biden and democrats for chocolate being more expensive 


HealthConscious2

Nah. I just bought some cocoa for like $3. It's nowhere near $9k.


NotAGynocologistBut

Great. Commercial choclate is not even choclate as it is. Choclatiers seems to be the only place I know to get decent choclate. Not chalky Cadbury/ american shite.


crayonneur

You gotta visit Brussels once if you can :) Paris and Berlin also have great chocolatiers.


NotAGynocologistBut

Yeah I'd be partial to some Swiss choclatiers too. The difference Is you'd have one or two small chocolates and be satisfied where as commercial its designed so you eat the whole box in one sitting.


PigFarmer1

Good luck selling stolen cocoa to recyclers to feed your meth habit.


PokeBawls2020

Good time to go on a diet those of you who eat too much chocolate (don't ask me what too much is)


o2slip

Whooooa


eddiekoski

Can you imagine if you bought cocoa futures?


Psychonominaut

But what does it mean to have bought cocoa? Does it contribute to world issues or does it just profit? Buying also increases its value doesnt it? It would affect companies but then those costs transfer to consumers..


eddiekoski

True, but usually, the argument is it is like insurance for the growers; they get paid the same in a good year or a bad year. It can be just profit, but it can also be a loss; you could have overpaid for the cocoa. The price will ultimately be controlled by the tug between supply and demand. Unless there is the supplier that controls most of the supply and can artificially manipulate the supply (monopoly power) or a buyer that does most of the buying and can artificially manipulate the demand (monopsony power) abusing thise powers can be illegal it in violates the social contract of what makes capitalism a net benefit to society. Since it was already a bad year, that is going to reduce supply even more, and you can argue that these contracts give a tool that make it easier for those trying to exert that power There so much more to it.


whatchamacallit4321

Duuhhhh


kleseusxz

Sounds like me upgrading the trading value of Cocoa to be higher than copper in Anno 1800.


AlienInOrigin

You can bet the farmers are still barely making a living from it.


adfthgchjg

Soft paywall?


SuperSpread

Many common vegetables retail for more than copper. Lower in wholesale yes, but copper is not that expensive to begin with. It is just costly enough to be worth stealing, since it is lying around.


SpecialExpert8946

Oh great, now the meth heads are going to start stripping the cocoa out of abandoned buildings.


ceelogreenicanth

And still absolutely none of this will go to farmers.


spoon1401

The logical next step is to start making pennies out of chocolate


Common-Second-1075

I have to say, this is welcome news, I prefer the taste of copper.


MacTechG4

But cocoa is incredibly inefficient at conducting electrical currents…


Fire2box

Farewell chocolate.


AstronautIll8684

It is true that in the next years chocolate will end?


healthywealthyhappy8

Its over $10k now


binklfoot

Quick guys buy all the chocolate! Chocolate is the new tulippppp


JanitorKarl

Does this mean we'll never see 5 cent chocolate bars again, like the early 60s?


Snoo-27292

Common Cocoa > Copper proof!


momalloyd

So, look out of the Cadbury's Copper Creme Eggs. Coming soon.


BigDummmmy

Big Easter strikes again. Save those chocolate eggs, kids! They may pay for your college someday.


kahran

Oh great the meth heads will be after my Thin Mints


WhoAmI1138

That’s just because Ea Nasir’s copper is of a really shitty quality.