General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe world’s biggest chocolate-maker says we’re running out of chocolate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/15/the-worlds-biggest-chocolate-maker-says-were-running-out-of-chocolate/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-yearthe 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 cocoa 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).
brooklynite
(94,694 posts)" It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grammes a week."
Rex
(65,616 posts)No more chocolate? Ever?
Someone needs to put up some cocoa greenhouses. Otherwise the black market for chocolate is gonna get dirty real fast.
We'll be trolling street corners for chocolate chips.
Mortgaging homes for truffles.
This could get ugly.
ellenfl
(8,660 posts)leftofcool
(19,460 posts)Tsiyu
(18,186 posts)hordes of post-menopausal women and fifty-something men walking the streets in mini skirts and halter tops, willing to sell their souls for Ghirardelli.
Things could get so bad, COCOA SWAT Teams will start to confiscate chocolate from our homes and vehicles. Consuming hot cocoa in public could become a Class I Felony.
They have to do something to keep the prisons full....and I fear it will be A WAR ON CHOCOLATE!
Okay, back to work......
Yavin4
(35,445 posts)Orrex
(63,220 posts)Where do I sign up to keep my chocolate?
Shame on you for making me laugh.
Enrique
(27,461 posts)don't we?
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)ProfessorGAC
(65,137 posts)Weather got nasty and we got stuck with a bunch. When my wife was teaching, no problem if that happened.
Now she's retired and we stiil have it in the house.
msongs
(67,433 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)madville
(7,412 posts)How does the world consume more than it produces for 10-20 consecutive years? Are there big stockpiles or something?
progressoid
(49,996 posts)sadoldgirl
(3,431 posts)will buy up all the reserves and plants.
Actually I read about this about two years ago, and coffee was on the list as well.