CTV Winnipeg: ‘Cuckoo for cocoa’: Chocolate prices on the rise ahead of Easter

An increase in chocolate prices could mean Easter eggs will be more egg-spensive this year.

According to experts, the spike in the seasonal sweet treats is due in part to high demand and the skyrocketing price of cocoa.

“Since November, cocoa prices went from US$3,000 a metric tonne to US$10,000 a metric tonne and the previous record was set back in July of 1977,” said Sylvain Charlebois, the director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. “People are going cuckoo for cocoa!”

He said the inflated cost is fueled by a “black pod” fungus infecting cacao trees, as well as flooding facing producers in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

“Those two countries actually represent about two-thirds of the world’s coca production,” Charlebois said.

Robert Parsons, a sessional instructor in supply chain management at the University of Manitoba said high seasonal demand doesn’t help.

To read the full story from CTV, please visit CTV Winnipeg ‘Cuckoo for cocoa’: Chocolate prices on the rise ahead of Easter