Chocolate prices soar in cocoa crisis amid fears it could ALL be gone by 2050
Prices were also hit by worries over the quality of crops in major producing countries like Ivory Coast and Ghana, where farmers are paid a fixed price by governments
CHOCOHOLICS are being warned to scoff their Easter eggs while they can afford to do so.
Cocoa prices are surging on the back of rising demand and a shortage of worldwide stocks.
The International Cocoa Organisation said they were down 51,000 tonnes from 1.9 million.
The cacao tree, on which cocoa beans are grown, can survive only in humid rainforest conditions.
And the plant is under threat as rising temperatures suck moisture from soils.
This has led experts to believe that by 2050 the plant will be impossible to grow.
On the London Stock Exchange cocoa is trading at a record high of nearly £1,800 a tonne.
Prices were also hit by worries over the quality of crops in major producing countries like Ivory Coast and Ghana, where farmers are paid a fixed price by governments.
Carlos Mera, senior commodity analyst at Rabobank, said: “The amount paid has been falling.
“So farmers stopped use of fertilisers and general husbandry.”
UK's top of the chocs
BRITISH chocolate is enjoying an Easter export boom as demand from abroad hits a record high.
Hungry foreign consumers bought over £680million last year — up 84 per cent since 2010.
Most of it goes to EU countries — including the choc-producing centres of Switzerland and Belgium.
But there is growing global demand and the manufacture of cocoa, chocolate and sugar confectionary is worth £1.1billion to the UK economy.
Food and farming minister George Eustice said “increasing market access worldwide is a major focus for government”.
Meanwhile, 300,000 acres of diseased plants were destroyed.
Production is set to fall over two per cent this year as demand rises similarly.
- GOT a story? Ring The Sun on Sunday on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or email exclusive@the-sun.co.uk.