File this under “Who knew?” Several Fijian news outlets reported that the cocoa sector there will get a boost in the next governmental budget and that a cocoa growers cooperative may actually begin to manufacture chocolate there.
Indonesia’s Cocoa Problems
Since 1980 Indonesia, and specifically its Sulawesi province, has emerged as a major cocoa producer in the world. Starting from inauspicious beginnings, Sulawesi represents on of the successes of the chocolate industry’s diversification strategy. Total production increased from only 12,400 tons in 1979/80 to a predicted harvest of 480,000 tons during the current season. But all is not well with Indonesian cocoa.
The Luxury Chocolate Market
A couple of weeks ago a number of news sources reported the arrival of the £5,000 box of chocolates at Harrods in London–that’s almost $10,000 for 49 chocolates hand-wrapped and placed in suede leather, partitioned with gold and platinum. Lebanese chocolatier Patchi is said to have used “the finest grown cocoa.”
The reports don’t really tell us how the chocolates were made, but I wonder if Patchi actually made the chocolate that ended up in his fancy chocolates.
There is a big difference between making chocolate and making chocolates. The former is a complex process that requires quite a bit of machinery and know-how while the latter can be done in a regular kitchen by a modestly skilled person.
We Need A New International Cocoa Agreement
What goes up must come down. The old trading adage certainly applied to cocoa this summer. After reaching $3,290/ton on July 1, the futures price dropped to $2,801/ton by July 28. That’s a drop of almost $500 in a month. Nobody can explain such a decline with changes in supply and demand of cocoa. There was no news of larger than expected increases in cocoa supplies. If anything, there were indications that the light harvest in both Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire would be less than last year. So it’s back to the speculators.
Continue reading “We Need A New International Cocoa Agreement”
Sustainable Cocoa
There has been a lot of debate lately over the sustainability of cocoa production. On July 7, CNN.com posted a report that started with the following quote by John Mason of the Nature Conservation Research Council: “I think that in 20 years chocolate will be like caviar.” The report goes on to state that yields (cocoa harvested per hectare) are declining all over West Africa and that the new hybrid cocoa trees planted there contribute to soil degradation.
