Ivory Coast | The Rambling Epicure

On the Chocolate Trail: Easter Dead? Say It Isn’t So!

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, April 1, 2011 Permalink 0

by Christina Daub

According to the Huffington Post, Easter is about to “be killed” and Passover “injured” due to the continuing political unrest in the Ivory Coast influencing the rising costs of cocoa.

Yes, forty percent of the world’s supply is still being held up in the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro, and the costs to chocolatiers and consumers continue to rise, but enough to leave all the chocolate Easter Bunnies sitting on the store shelves, certainly not.

In fact I have seen more chocolate Easter products on the shelves of DC area stores than ever before. The Harris Teeter chain seems to be loaded with “sale” Lindt chocolate rabbits, carrots and eggs. World Market is a cornucopia of Easter treats and the CVS stores were giving out dollar coupons one could use to buy Dove chocolate eggs recently.

The chocolate world may be suffering a major setback, but please let’s remember the real victims in the chocolate war are the Ivorian growers and pickers, their livelihoods threatened by the two men vying for government control.

On the Chocolate Trail: World’s Chocolate Supply Threatened

Published by Jonell Galloway + Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Permalink 0

by Christina Daub

Bad news for the chocolate world. The largest cocoa producing country in the world, the Ivory Coast, is on the verge of civil war and all of its cocoa has been seized by the state in a move that the US State Department yesterday said, “amounted to theft.”

Despite losing the election last year, Laurent Gbgabo, stated his government would take over paying the farmers and selling the beans on the open market in yet another move to resist handing over power to Alassane Ouattara the UN-sanctified winner. Ouattara countered with the statement that any exporter co-operating with Gbgabo will lose his license when Ouattara finally takes over.

EU sanctions and a ban on cocoa exports already put into place by Ouattara as a way of squeezing Gbgabo’s access to funds prompted this sudden move to nationalize cocoa production in the country that produces roughly 40% of the world’s output..

What does this mean for the chocolate making industry? According to Bloomberg’s Poppy Trowbridge, cocoa rose to record high of US$3,444/ton in the month of February driving prices up 20% since the November 28th election. And for the investor? In London yesterday, cocoa futures for May delivery rose to US$3, 858/metric ton. Meanwhile an estimated half million tons of the cacao beans are sitting in the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro as buyers are unsure which head of state to follow and do not want to violate existing sanctions agreed on by the international community. Smuggling, already in practice via neighboring countries, is expected to rise.

As consumers who already consider fine chocolate a luxury, get ready. Prices will only be going up, up, up. Time to stockpile.