Future may be bitter for chocolate lovers

Paris : The future may be bitter for chocolate lovers unless cocoa producers step up their output dramatically to satisfy an expected surge in demand from emerging market countries, an industry executive warns.






Production of cocoa beans is forecast to fall short of demand for a second year running, although the International Cocoa Organization estimates that world output will rise to 4.104 million tonnes this year from 3.942 million tonnes last year.

Barry Callebaut, which processes nearly a quarter of the world's cocoa beans, estimates that output needs to rise to five million tonnes by 2020 to meet the growth in demand.

"If we don't have more (a shortage) could happen," Steinemann told journalists during a recent visit to Paris.

"This is why we better overdo, rather than not enough," he added.

The answer to the question of how to get such an increase in output is not so easy, however.

Even with the price of cocoa beans jumping by nearly a third over the past year, farmers prefer growing palm or bananas, noted Barry Callebaut's vice president, Philippe Janvier.

Expanding land under cultivation wouldn't be a quick solution as it takes about seven years before you can harvest beans.