Asia’s Chocolate Bonanza Spurs Quest for Locally Grown Beans
- Processors having to import beans from Africa to meet demand
- Rising wealth and changing lifestyles are driving consumption
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Asia’s cocoa industry is scouring for ways to boost local bean supplies as the region’s chocoholics munch through more candy than ever.
The solution is to increase production in Indonesia, the top supplier and processor in the region, according to the Cocoa Association of Asia. But that’s going to be a tough assignment because it means reversing a relentless decline in the country’s output due to aging trees, crop disease and more profitable alternatives. That’s spurred record bean imports, with supplies coming from growers outside Asia, such as in Africa or Latin America.