Enjoy today’s Easter eggs: they could soon become a luxury
by Tess Reidy from Economics | The Guardian on (#6DKB)
Chocolate prices set to soar as demand grows and cocoa farmers switch crops
Easter 2015 may be remembered as the end of the cheap chocolate era: cocoa prices are expected to double by 2020 as the world's cocoa supplies run low.
According to David Guest, professor of plant pathology at the University of Sydney, the cost surge is inevitable. The squeeze is partly a result of farmers moving into higher-return crops such as coffee and maize, which are less susceptible to pests and diseases, but it is also linked to problems around the labour-intensive cultivation of cocoa trees.
Related: The cocoa crisis: why the world's stash of chocolate is melting away
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