Chocolate might find yourself as unaffordable luxurious after cocoa beans doubled in worth

Extreme weather in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which jointly account for two thirds of the world’s production, has decimated the plants and could lead to a surge in chocolate prices

Chocolate could soon become an unaffordable luxury after cocoa beans more than doubled in price in the last year.

Extreme weather in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which jointly account for two thirds of the world’s production, has decimated the plants, leading costs to shoot up.

While large manufacturers including Cadbury and Nestlé have had to raise prices, smaller chocolatiers are struggling.

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A bar of Sainsbury’s no added sugar milk choc is up 110%, from 95p to £2, while a three pack of Ferrero Rocher is up 65%, from £1 to £1.65. The firm Chococo warned: “If they continue to have poor harvests, chocolate could become increasingly special and precious.

“We need to think about it in a different way.

“People value the process of making wine, coffee or their olive oil much more than their chocolate but it is a very labour-intensive crop.

“It takes six months for the flowers to develop into a pod, the pod must be harvested by hand then fermented and dried and roasted and ground. It should be valued and is not something to be bought for £1.50 for a massive bar.”

Cacao trees are fragile and need temperatures between 20C and 30C, substantial rainfall and a dry period of no longer than three months.

They prosper only in a thin “chocolate belt” around the equator, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather like heavy rainfall followed by droughts.

But Willie Harcourt-Cooze, founder of Willie’s Cacao in Devon believes chocolate benefits from the “lipstick effect” when people cut back on bigger purchases in difficult times but still buy small luxuries.

He said: “Chocolate, whether it is beautiful, fine chocolate or the really, sugary sweet kind, is a little pleasure, isn’t it?”

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