Shortage is driving up chocolate prices
It looks like your Valentine’s Day chocolate is going to cost you more.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that cocoa -- the raw material used to make chocolate hearts and tarts -- is diminishing due to adverse weather conditions and poor farming techniques.
Combine that with the fact that the demand for the sweet stuff hit an all-time high last year, and the world has an imbalance that has forced the price of the commodity almost 40 percent since 2012. Helping to drive demand are countries like China and India that have disposable income to afford the treats.
Chocolate makers are warning, once again, that chocolate will be increasingly rare unless something is done. In 2014, Mars and chocolate giant Barry Callebaut projected a global shortage by 2020 without industry cooperation.