The world is facing a very serious epidemic. It’s worse than sandals with socks. Quite possibly more devastating than the Backstreet Boys break up. I hope you’re sitting down… WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF CHOCOLATE. Yes, you read that correctly, and there are even statistics to back it up. Farmers are not producing enough cocoa for this chocolate-crazed world we live in.
For the first time in history, America is not the only one to blame! The world should be specifically concerned with China’s consumption of the sweet cocoa based candy that heals all break-ups and satisfies every period craving. But China only eats 5% of what the average Western European eats (I blame the Germans). Another part of the problem is the growing love of dark chocolate containing 70% more cocoa than other chocolates. Totally understandable. Dark chocolate is bae.
The world’s consumption isn’t the only thing slowing chocolate production down; West Africa produces more than 70% of our chocolate, and the dry weather has been creating a setback. There is also a nasty fungal infection traveling through their crop known as frosty pod that has wiped out 30-40% of cocoa production worldwide. Being discouraged by the destruction of their crop, farmers are choosing to harvest produce that is more profitable such as corn.
Two of the world’s largest chocolate makers, Mars, Inc. and Barry Callebaut, claim that we are in the midst of the highest chocolate deficit in the past 50 years. Last year alone, the world ate 70,000 metric tons more cocoa than farmers could produce. These deficits are only growing and by 2020, chocolate makers warn that the number could reach 1 million metric tons, wiping out the existence of chocolate completely which CANNOT happen.
Hershey was the first to raise their prices on chocolate in order to gain control of the mass ingestion, but the world saw large companies quickly follow. We have watched the price of chocolate become 60% more expensive since 2012, the year that the deficit began. Mars, Inc. and Barry Callebaut say that they have no other choice but to raise the prices in efforts to counteract the imbalance of growth and consumption.
But before you all get your Victoria’s Secret 5 for $25 thongs in a bunch, let me reassure you that farmers and specialists are working on a solution. A group of researchers in Central Africa is trying to solve the dilemma of cocoa shortage from an agricultural stance. They are in the process of developing trees that produce up to seven times the amount of beans than a traditional tree. Farmers are trying to find a solution before it’s too late and the chocolate business reaches extinction (God forbid). The only compromise with these new efforts is a small change in taste. But hey, it’s better than no chocolate at all, right?
I will leave you with this — what would this world be without chocolate? A moment of silence for Kit Kats, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate coffee drinks, the the-creepy-chocolates-your-grandma-keeps-in-her-purse-that-you-have-never-seen-in-a-store-so-you’re-not-sure-where-she-even-gets-them-from chocolates, chocolate cake, chocolate milkshakes, chocolate fudge Sundays, etc. We may have our differences, but chocolate is universal.