Reports of rising cocoa prices could make chocolate a little less sweet and a little more pricey
Heavy rains, crop disease and El Niño have made things challenging for cocoa farmers
Chocolate might be sweet, but reports of rising cocoa prices could leave a bitter taste in the mouths of some chocolate lovers.
Cocoa harvests are lower than usual, thanks to changing weather patterns, crop disease and heavy rains. Next season, forecasters say the climate phenomenon of El Niño could put another dentin yields.
Meanwhile, worldwide demand continues to rise, particularly in Europe and Asia, as consumers crave more cocoa-heavy chocolate.
Sophia Cardenuto, an assistant professor at the University of Victoria who studies the cocoa supply chain, told CBC Radio that higher cocoa prices can be helpful for struggling farmers.
"I think there's a lot of very unethical chocolate production happening right now in the conventional cocoa supply chains. Most chocolate products that you find today, there is no indication of where the cocoa came from."
The rising price of sugar is only adding to the problem, prompting some chocolate makers to raise their prices in return.
How chocolate makers keep prices low
However, some local chocolatiers are finding ways to avoid passing the rising price of ingredients onto consumers. Marc Forrat, who has worked as a chocolatier in London, Ont., for the last 20 years, said he has begun scaling up his production in response to the rising cost of ingredients.
Forrat, who also owns a dessert lounge in the Masonville area, has invested heavily in machinery that will save him time and labour when it comes to the painstaking process of making his sweets.
"If we invest in the equipment and make the chocolate in a more efficient process and passing that onto the customer, we hope that, instead of selling one chocolate, we can sell 10."
Forrat said he's also diversifying his business by expanding into teaching others how to create their own chocolate and has plans to expand his chocolate making by franchising Forrat's Chocolates in cities across Ontario.
"The concept is to have as many locations as possible."
Forrat isn't the only chocolatier searching for new ways to keep prices low, despite a never-ending series of price hikes from suppliers on everything from cocoa to dairy as persistent inflation causes food prices to rise.
Annie Doben, the owner of Annie's Chocolates, which has two locations in the London area, said she's heard reports about the rising price of cocoa, but said so far, she hasn't seen it.
"Anything is possible, but as of right now, I would say no," she said. "We've actually found more inflation as far as transportation or delivery of product than the actual product itself."
Doben said, like Forrat, she has chosen to automate some parts of her business to keep prices low without sacrificing quality in the final product.
"Instead of being handmade, we do have some machinery so things are produced a little bit quicker," she said. "When we first started we would hand coat everything, which would take hours and hours."
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