Persoone said that his chocolates increased in price by 20% over the last year alone while de Selliers said that it depends very much from producer to producer.
“The big irony in the cocoa industry is that farmers are now getting a fair price at the moment they are abandoning cocoa farming,” Van Besien said.
“The price increase of cocoa is absolutely spectacular, now for 2, 2½ years,” said Philippe de Sellier, the head of both Leonidas and Belgian chocolate federation Choprabisco.
The shock of cocoa prices pretty much is a metaphorical perfect storm, mixing climate, disease, commodity speculation, the plight of farmers and social ascendency around the world into one heady mix.
“The drop that has happened now in production was directly linked to climate change,” said Van Besien, blaming changes in annual rain and drought patterns in western Africa that weakened the sensitive trees in key production areas.
