More expensive chocolate in the global market: What has impacted cocoa and why prices could rise more

The chocolate industry is facing such a severe cocoa shortage that it has attracted an unlikely entrant: Pierre Andurand, a hedge fund manager best known for his bets on oil. By early March, prices had already more than doubled in a period of just 12 months. At that time, many speculators were giving up and cutting their bullish bets. It was then that Andurand saw an opportunity to go long (bet on the rise). All signs pointed to a massive deficit: the world had been buying cheap chocolate for decades, trees were older, and crop pests were spreading in West African countries, which account for about half the market. A bit of bad weather was the turning point for production in Ivory Coast and Ghana, and many traders now fear that production from these producers has entered a long-term setback. Futures have quickly risen about 70% since the beginning of March, hitting a record high this week. For the world's chocolate makers, the crisis has arrived. Factories were forced to close in ...