Cocoa from Latin America is making a comeback, at least according to a report in Confectionary News. It is often forgotten that Latin American cocoa dominated the world market until the early years of the twentieth century. After the Spanish colonizers brought cocoa to Spain and from there is quickly spread to the rest of Europe. But once industrialization made the production of chocolate bars possible and affordable, demand for cocoa expanded to levels that Latin American was not able to supply.
The spread of cocoa production followed a pattern first discussed by Francois Ruf, a French agronomist, who hypothesized that cocoa production depends on access to virgin forest land. He coined the phrase “forest rent” to explain that a new cocoa grove on new forest land is initially extremely productive and produces very high yields. As the trees near their life expectancy or are attacked by disease or pests, the yields decline, sometimes precipitously. Replanting in an existing cocoa grove never yields as good a return as planting in new forest lands. So productivity depends on capitalizing on the “forest rent” derived from previously untouched forests. Increase demand, therefore, over time leads to an expansion of cocoa production to areas that support the tree. As long as there was enough forest land available, there was no problem, but eventually, that expansion came to an end. The move to Africa in the mid 1800s is in part explained by the need for more forest land. Continue reading “A Cocoa Comeback in Latin America”
