Running Out Of Chocolate??

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pegasus216

Eternal Members
Jun 20, 2013
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Oh no!!

Chocolate giant: Earth is running out of chocolate

The Washington Post
5 hrs ago
BBehmsV.img
© Dave Kaup/Reuters A light almond cream candy carries the initials for Russell Stover Candies as shown in Kansas City, Kansas July 14, 2014. Dave Kaup/Reuters There's no easy way to say this: You're eating too much chocolate, all of you. And it's getting so out of hand that the world could be headed towards a potentially disastrous (if you love chocolate) scenario if it doesn't stop.
Those are Mars, Inc. and Barry Callebaut's words, very roughly speaking. And there's a bit of data to back them up.
Chocolate deficits, whereby farmers produce less cocoa than the world eats, are becoming the norm. Already, we are in the midst of what could be the longest streak of consecutive chocolate deficits in more than 50 years. It also looks like deficits aren't just carrying over from year-to-year—the industry expects them to grow. Last year, the world ate roughly 70,000 metric tons more cocoa than it produced. By 2020, the two chocolate-makers warn that that number could swell to 1 million metric tons, a more than 14-fold increase; by 2030, they think the deficit could reach 2 million metric tons.
The problem is, for one, a supply issue. Dry weather in West Africa (specifically in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, where more than 70 percent of the world's cocoa is produced) has greatly decreased production in the region. A nasty fungal disease known as frosty pod hasn't helped either. The International Cocoa Organization estimates it has wiped out between 30 percent and 40 percent of global coca production. Because of all this, cocoa farming has proven a particularly tough business, and many farmers have shifted to more profitable crops, like corn, as a result.
Then there's the world's insatiable appetite for chocolate. China's growing love for the stuff is of particular concern. The Chinese are buying more and more chocolate each year. Still, they only consume per capita about 5 percent of what the average Western European eats. There's also the rising popularity of dark chocolate, which contains a good deal more cocoa by volume than traditional chocolate bars (the average chocolate bar contains about 10 percent, while dark chocolate often contains upwards of 70 percent).
For these reasons, cocoa prices have climbed by more than 60 percent since 2012, when people started eating more chocolate than the world could produce. And chocolate makers have, in turn, been forced to adjust by raising the price of their bars. Hershey's was the first, but others have followed suit.
Efforts to counter the growing imbalance between the amount of chocolate the world wants and the amount farmers can produce has inspired a bit of much needed innovation. Specifically, an agricultural research group in Central Africa is developing trees that can produce up to seven times the amount of beans traditional cocoa trees can. The uptick in efficiency, however, might be compromising taste, says Bloomberg's Mark Schatzker. He likens the trade-off to other mass-produced commodities.
Efforts are under way to make chocolate cheap and abundant -- in the process inadvertently rendering it as tasteless as today’s store-bought tomatoes, yet another food, along with chicken and strawberries, that went from flavorful to forgettable on the road to plenitude.
It's unclear anyone will mind a milder flavor if it keeps prices down. And the industry certainly won't mind, so long as it keeps the potential for a gargantuan shortage at bay.

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Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
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:shock: What. The. Fu@k?!
Right, that's it, I'm stockpiling now... anybody wants chocolate from now on, you best come see me.
I like back rubs and live music, just saying.
I know you will have your secret hideouts but i think we better organize some intensive care for the future to help you with your addiction. ;;D And i promise Flake i will not eat any so it is more for you (except at christmas, OK?).:love:
 

FlakeNoir

Original Kiwi© SKMB®
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Apr 11, 2006
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I know you will have your secret hideouts but i think we better organize some intensive care for the future to help you with your addiction. ;;D And i promise Flake i will not eat any so it is more for you (except at christmas, OK?).:love:
"YOU CAN TAKE AWAY MUH FREEDOM, BUT YOU'LL NEVER TAKE AWAY MUH CHOCOLATE!"
(Christmas time sounds perfectly reasonable.)