The dark underbelly of chocolate
by mukti patel
Maybe your guilty pleasure is hot chocolate on a rainy day, or a chocolate chip cookie at the end of a long work day – maybe it’s the nostalgia of a chocolate cake you used to consume for your birthdays as a kid that reels you back in. From special occasions to the daily mundane of life, all of us consume chocolate or cocoa in some shape or form – but in the daily minutiae it is easy to forget that these little things have a long, and complicated process in their making.Chocolate is primarily made of cacao beans which are considered a soft commodity like coffee beans and sugar, and just like coffee, cacao beans are grown in very specific weather conditions that require moderate humidity, temperatures and an even occurrence of rainfall. The yield of cacao pods has been severely affected due to the extremities of current climate conditions, causing a decrease in the cacao supply by 13% in 2024 which caused a 400% price increase from the last ten years. West Africa produces the majority of cacao beans, contributing about 60% of cacao supplied throughout the world, but due to lack of investment in the region, specifically on the farms and farmers, their ability to produce as well as process cacao beans has significantly decreased.
Cacao bean prices in the last 10 years from Trading Economics https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/cocoa
The increase in cacao prices might lead one to believe that the farmers must be getting paid more – however, that is not the case. When we stumble across the chocolate aisles in a grocery store, it might not seem as though the global chocolate market sits at about USD $123 billion and it definitely might not occur to us that the farmers harvesting and processing cacao beans might be getting paid less than USD $1.20 per day. The biggest names in the chocolate industry have more wealth than two countries who are the biggest contributors to cacao bean production. One of the big issues with the bigger chocolate and confectionery companies remains that the majority of them fail to trace the origin of cacao beans they use for production of products that they dilute away with sugar and stabilizer content. A lot of these statistics and terms might come across insignificant but the fact of the matter is that while cacao price surges, and the biggest companies (even if affected) still make higher profit margins turning them into billion dollar companies, while the farmers suffer from poor work conditions and the farms are unable to recover from harsh weather conditions andpests, as well as diseases without resources to help sustain them. To fight back for sustainability, and better pay for farmers, a lot of folks have turned to supporting local businesses – including small chocolate makers. At Delavoye Chocolate Maker, the goal has always been to craft small batch, sustainable, and delicious chocolate through meticulousness, creativity, and a precise focus on the cacao beans obtained from small farms and various regions across the world. While the price surge affects every chocolate maker, it hits the small businesses the most. In honor of transparency, here are the prices paid for cacao beans from Peru, specifically the Cusco region in the last two years :1st Order from 06 March 2023 - USD $512.50 Exchange rate - CAD $697.70 2nd Order from 12 December 2023 - USD $512.50 Exchange rate - CAD $696.33 3rd Order from 13 January 2025 - USD $900.00 Exchange rate - CAD $1291.99 This indicates a 60% increase from December 2023 to January 2025 in CAD Prices. As a small business owner, these price changes can unfortunately cause the inability to purchase beans at all unless there is a price increase on products. While the price increases for bigger conglomerates goes into their deep pockets, the price increase on a small scale produced chocolate bar is to literally buy the cacao beans that are cultivated through ethical farming, and to sustain those regions economically. Progress in community is important during these challenging times, and it is completely understandable to question the expensive commodities we partake in, as a society. However, change comes through small steps and more importantly, through education and transparency behind these intricate, and complex processes. The cacao bean prices are only predicted to be rising, and in an ever-changing world, it is difficult to disengage from practices we do have a control on. Chocolate should not be a guilty pleasure because if crafted right, it can change someone’s worldview on what it is supposed to be – an ode to the farmers and communities that carry the weight on their shoulders so we can enjoy the end product from the food of the gods (Theobroma cacao).