Why Have Chocolate Prices Increased?

You may have read in the press that the price of cocoa has increased dramatically in the past year, but why has this happened and how has this affected us here at Mocha?

Cocoa prices increased in the past year, due to bad weather (drought, followed by very high temperatures) damaging crops and often destroying entire plantations, particularly in West Africa, and the prevalence there of diseased crops.  Just twelve months ago the average price per tonne was just below $3000, it is now $11500!

Although cocoa prices have increased by almost 400% you won't find prices in the shops have increased to this extent.  This is beacuse the couverture we use to make our chocolates, bars and in our hot chocolates have other costs associated with it (overheads, sugar, marketing, transport etc) and so the cost increases are relative to the proportion of cocoa in each product we use.

It has been an extremely worrying time for all of us in the chocolate industry - there is only so much that can be charged for a box of chocolates without it being unaffordable for most consumers.

We shall however continue to be creative in our chocolate designs and will always try to offer value for money.  We are grateful to our customers for their understanding of the global financial situation - we hate implementing price rises and we are hoping things will settle down very soon!

 Thanks to House of Sarunds for the information relating to this article