Chocolate is running out, said information from Barry Callebaut, one of the largest chocolate producers in the world, and Mars, Inc., the company that produces Milky Way and M&Ms, the world’s largest chocolate company. “I think if chocolate is cut out of the picture, I personally would have to switch to a new reward treat that would be cheaper,” said Cy Kaahanui, a senior studying biology from Kapolei. He added, with a shudder, that he would probably switch to something healthy.With a chocolate shortage on the horizon, Kylee Bonnell, a freshman from Colorado studying hospitality and tourism management, said, “There would be a lot more mad women. Chocolate is every girl’s go-to thing for hard times, finals, and so on.”In 2013, the world ate roughly 70,000 metric tons more cocoa than it produced, reported The Huffington Post. It is estimated that by 2020 the world could increase that number 14-fold, and eat more than 1 million metric tons more cocoa than produced. By 2030, it could be 2 million, and this could cause a shortage of chocolate.The problem is supply and demand. On the supply side, dry weather in West Africa, specifically the Ivory Coast and Ghana, where more than 70 percent of the world’s cocoa is produced, cocoa production has greatly decreased, said Huffington Post. A worldwide fungal disease known as frosty pod has wiped out 30 to 40 percent of the global cocoa production, says the Washington Post. Due to these problems, farmers are turning to other profitable crops like corn.Another problem is the growing appetite for chocolate. World-wide demand for chocolate has increased, and China has been eating more and more chocolate each year, causing concern. However, per capita, China still only consumes 5 percent the amount of chocolate as the average Western European, says qz.com. The rising popularity of dark chocolate is also a cause to the problem. Typical chocolate has only 10 percent cocoa, while the average dark chocolate bar is 70 percent.Because of these problems cocoa prices have been driven up 60 percent since 2012, reports Yahoo! Finance, when people started eating more chocolate than the world could produce. Hershey’s was the first to raise prices, however others quickly followed suit, reported the Huffington Post.This imbalance could also lead to innovation. The Huffington Post reported there is an agricultural research group in Central Africa developing trees that can produce up to seven times the amount of cocoa beans traditional trees can produce. However this could compromise on taste, similar to other mass-produced commodities such as chicken or tomatoes. “I don’t know if I would want quantity over quality,” said Alex Stuehler, a sophomore studying psychology from Oregon. “I don’t know if I would pay that much for good chocolate, but I think I would die without hot chocolate.”
Writer: Camron Stockford ~ Multimedia Journalist
