Why the price of chocolate is increasing

Every chocolate lover has probably noticed that the price of chocolate is increasing. No, this isn’t just a byproduct of inflation. If you recall how chocolate is made, you know that cocoa beans are the main ingredient in chocolate. An increase in demand, supply chain issues, and social and environmental problems have led to a global shortage and an unprecedented increase in the price of chocolate. The true cost of modern cacao production has been ignored by many of the larger chocolate makers, in favor of cheap pricing, for decades. Today, we are all paying the price.

The Current Price of Chocolate

Chocolate is more expensive than ever before. For more than a decade, the average cacao prices have remained relatively steady at around $2800 per metric ton. Over the past 6 months, the market prices have sky rocketed to over $12,000 per metric ton. This 300% increase in price makes it even more expensive than copper!

Source: Trading Economics, May 2024.

The Growing Demand for Chocolate

When chocolate was first brought from Central America and introduced in Europe in the 1500s, it was a delicacy reserved for the royals. Today, chocolate is widely regarded as an affordable luxury and everyday treat. Changes in disposable income and gifting traditions are having a profound impact on the industry. Countries, like China and Japan, that used to consume very little sweets, are now seeing exponential growth in chocolate consumption. Global demand for chocolate has doubled over the last 30 years. This increased demand for chocolate is outpacing the supply.

A Dwindling Chocolate Supply

Cacao trees only grow within 10 degrees of the equator and require very specific growing conditions. Over half of the world’s cocoa supply comes from West Africa (the Ivory Coast and Ghana). Rampant wildfires and drastic changes to the climate, especially in the last couple of years, have negatively impacted the yields from the biannual cacao crop harvests. Devastating diseases, like the rapidly spreading cacao swollen shoot virus, have also decimated the cacao crop in places like Ghana. In the past couple of years, Ghana has lost more than 254 million cacao trees to disease. This year alone, the global cocoa market will be short by 300,000 tons.

Cacao Farmers Don’t Get Paid Enough

The average cocoa farmer in the Ivory Coast makes only about $1 per day. Let’s face it, those wages are just not sustainable. The unsettling truth is that some people don’t even make that as forced labor and child labor are still prevalent in the industry. The variability in cocoa yields due to climate change makes it difficult for farmers to earn a stable income. With an uncertain economic future, fewer and fewer of the younger generation are starting or continuing cacao farming. Cacao farmers are turning to other crops, like palm oil, or are leaving farming entirely to make a living for their families. Those farmers that remain are becoming an aging population, that won’t be around forever.

Unsustainable Farming Practices

When the demand for chocolate increases at such an exponential rate, countries often take drastic measures to keep up. Unfortunately, this often involves clear cutting rainforests in order to plant cacao trees. Recent changes in governmental regulations in the Ivory Coast and Ghana have put an end to this environmentally unsustainable practice. New agroforestry systems are being promoted to conserve the forest ecosystems and biodiversity. While this is great news, it limits the number of new cacao farms as well as the number of new cacao trees that can be planted.

It's Not Just the Price of Chocolate

Inflation is everywhere. Apart from the historical rise in cocoa prices, the chocolate industry is seeing increases in every part of the supply chain; from raw ingredients (like sugar and milk) and packaging components (like foil wrappers and gift boxes) to freight and (most importantly) labor. With Yellow Freight exiting the industry, the freight costs alone for ingredients have gone up more than 6% in the last year alone. These price increases across the board add up quickly.

What Can You Do About the Price of Chocolate Increasing?

Here are some way you can help ensure there's a future for chocolate:

Support Organic, Sustainable Farming Practices

Using environmentally sustainable farming practices helps make the world a better place. Organic cocoa, sugar, and dairy farming practices keep harmful pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilizers out of the environment. Buying premium organic chocolates from Lake Champlain Chocolates means that your chocolate indulgence is crafted without pesticides, GMOs, and artificial ingredients while supporting farmers, in places like the Dominican Republic and Peru, who utilize a more sustainable farm management system. These farming practices incorporate a high level of biodiversity, preservation of natural resources, humane treatment of animals, and use of all-natural substances and processes, all while focusing on environmental and animal protection.

Buy Ethically-Sourced Chocolate

Make a positive impact in the life of cocoa farmers by buying fair trade chocolate. At Lake Champlain Chocolates, we support our farming communities (and have been since 2013) by purchasing 100% of our chocolate and sugar under fair trade terms. Fair trade chocolate ensures that farmers are justly compensated for their crops and have safe working conditions and access to education on sustainably farming practices. Farmers are empowered to lift themselves out of poverty and create a better life for their families. It also provides additional fair trade premiums so that the farming communities can build schools, bring clean water to their villages, build healthcare facilities, and work on other community development projects.

Fund the Future

Paying fair trade premiums is not enough. If we want to ensure a future filled with chocolate, we need to do better. Lake Champlain Chocolates is proud to donate 1% of sales from our Signature Bar line to non-profit programs that strengthen our community and protect our environment. This year, we’re donating over $22,000 to Project Tocache. Over the year, this project aims to build 50 sanitation buildings with biodigesters. This much-needed infrastructure will help reduce environmental pollution and bring clean water to many cacao farming villages in Peru.

Don’t Compromise on Quality

The truth is that consumers pay a steep price for cheap chocolate. One that is both socially and environmentally unsustainable. At Lake Champlain Chocolates we carefully source only the highest quality ingredients and promise to never compromise our sourcing principles, ever. It’s one of the reasons you won’t find cheap, unsustainable palm oil fillers in our chocolates. Crafting our extraordinary chocolates takes time and unparalleled expertise. Our expert chocolatiers handcraft every one of our luxurious chocolate truffles and slow-cook each batch of decadent sea salt caramels to sweet golden perfection. It’s a level of care and craftsmanship that is simply beyond compare, and you can taste the results for yourself.

Ensure Everyone is Earning a Livable Wage

People are at the heart of everything we do at Lake Champlain Chocolates, and we believe that every hard-working individual in our supply chain should be fairly compensated. The current minimum wage set by the government is not enough to account for the cost of living. At our Vermont Chocolate Factory, where we handcraft our Five Star Bars®, our employees have experienced rising costs in housing, transportation, food, childcare, double-digit increases in healthcare, and so much more. We're working diligently to increase wages for our factory and retail workers so that everyone can afford a decent standard of living (as calculated by the MIT Standard).

Support Your Local Community

Shopping local is more important than ever before. Not only does it help reduce your environmental impact, it strengthens your local farming communities and boosts your local economy. Lake Champlain Chocolates has proudly supported local Vermont farmers and producers for more than 40 years! Long before it was trendy, it just made sense to source maple syrup from our next door neighbor, fresh cream from the dairy down the road, and honey from local hives, to craft our extraordinary chocolates. Today, we not only buy our high-quality ingredients from Vermont farmers, we’re helping to support the local co-ops and specialty food stores that you love to shop at.

Decades worth of socially and environmentally unstainable practices have led to the price of chocolate increasing. As a consumer, while these price increases can be quite shocking, it’s important to know the true price behind the chocolate you are eating. Next time you are picking up a sweet treat for yourself or a decadent gift for a friend, stop and think about your purchase. Support a socially and environmentally sustainable chocolate brand, like Lake Champlain Chocolates, that is a certified B Corporation®, uses business as a force for good, promises to never compromise on quality, and offers only the best organic and fair trade certified chocolates.