Follow the Money: Why does chocolate cost so much?
Business Daily

Follow the Money: Why does chocolate cost so much?

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 5, 202617 min
  • Business & money

The El Nino in 2023 had a detrimental impact on the cocoa harvest in West Africa, prices quadrupled and businesses reacted. Chocolate prices skyrocketed around the world, chocolate makers were reducing their cocoa content and in some cases making their products smaller. Since then cocoa prices have come back down, but the cost of chocolate products hasn't followed, Hannah Mullane takes a look at why. Now, the 2026 El Nino threatens to repeat history, cocoa prices have already started rising again as bad weather is expected to impact the next harvest. Farmers, wholesalers...

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have noticed that the cost of these sweet treats has increased over the last few years.

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making chocolate and in 2024 prices spiked record highs of more than $12,000 per tonne,

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

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  • 87% of the words are B1 or easier.
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  • 72 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. We start today's programme in the supermarket in my favourite spot, the chocolate aisle. All the fan favourites are here, there's Cadbury's, Kit-Kat's, Topher's and you might have noticed that the cost of these sweet treats has increased over the last few years.

1:22

One of the reasons for that is the price of cocoa. It's the most important ingredient making chocolate and in 2024 prices spiked record highs of more than $12,000 per tonne, four times the average price. Some chocolate makers made bars smaller others changed their recipe to use less cocoa. Now, cocoa prices are coming down, the cost of chocolate isn't.

1:45

I'm Hannah Moline and today on Follow the Money on Business Daily I'm going to be looking at what's going on with the cocoa price and asking why the chocolate price is still so high. To find out why the cocoa price went up so dramatically, we need to head back to 2023, when the El Niño weather phenomenon hit West Africa. The region saw heavy rains and severe

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