Commodities
Cocoa Tops $7,000 a Ton as Chocolate Makers Hike Prices, Shrink Packages
- Prices are up nearly 70% this year as West African output lags
- Poor weather, ill trees stoke concerns of significant deficit
A pile of cocoa pods showing signs of black pod disease during a harvest in Kwabeng, Ghana.
Photographer: Paul Ninson/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Cocoa futures rose to a fresh intraday record, topping $7,000 in New York for the first time, as supply concerns drive a rally that shows no sign of offering relief for chocolate makers.
The most-active contract jumped as much as 5.5% to $7,096 on Tuesday, bringing gains for the year so far to about 68%. Higher costs have placed pressure on chocolate makers, as output in top growers Ivory Coast and Ghana continues to buckle amid adverse weather conditions and structural concerns like aging, diseased trees.