Bad news for South Africans who eat chocolate
In the last few months, cocoa beans have surged by 90%, meaning that chocolate lovers worldwide will be paying a premium compared to a few years ago.
According to Trading Economics, until October of 2023, cocoa consistently traded at below $4,000 (R73,602) per tonne.
Prices have surged in the last 18 months, peaking at over $12,000 (R220,794) per tonne in April of 1024 and currently sitting at about $11,500 (R211,633).
Anthony Gird, Co-founder and Director at Honest Chocolate, explained on The Money Show with Stephen Grootes that terrible crops in West Africa, which produces most of the world’s cocoa, primarily drive these increases,
The Ivory Coast and Ghana, in particular, grow 60% of the world’s cocoa, and a persistent shortage of rainfall and high temperatures has heavily impacted their harvests.
On top of this, farmers in these regions have highlighted the harmful effects of Harmattan winds, including yellowing leaves and withering cherelles (young cocoa pods).
Since these areas are responsible for over half of the globe’s cocoa production, their crop failures drive up prices everywhere, even in the regions that source their cocoa elsewhere.
For example, South Africa gets its coca directly from Tanzania, but it has still felt the effect of surging cocoa prices.
“But of course, people are willing to pay a much higher rate because you can’t get it in West Africa.”
Consumers will be affected differently by the prices of different cocoa products, depending on the quality and cocoa content.
Companies like Honest Chocolate, which focuses on ethical sourcing and organic beans, were already paying a premium, but even that has been surpassed by the current market price.
“We pay above the market price, but the market price is double what we used to pay in the first place.”
For example, Honest Chocolate is now paying 140% more for the same beans compared to last year’s shipment.

Naturally, the percentage of coca in different chocolate bars will also affect what consumers need to pay. “Cheaper chocolate has a very low percentage of actual cocoa bean in it,” he said.
“If you think about a very cheap milk chocolate, it probably has about 20% of that is actually cocoa bean.”
However, chocolate bars that have a content of 70% cocoa will be much more expensive to make, considering the high cocoa content.
“So, the cheap chocolates are not going to be as affected, but your 70% cocoa percentage and higher is going to be very much affected.”
The effects of these surges can also be seen in the price of drinking chocolate.
According to Stats SA, the price index for hot beverages rose by 13,5% from December 2023 to December 2024, the highest annual rate among all food & non-alcoholic beverage (NAB) groups.
Drinking chocolate saw an even steeper increase, rising 14,1%. Instant coffee and black tea were the only hot beverages with sharper increases at 16,1% and 14,2%, respectively.
The upside to these price increases is that more farmers in countries like Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa have been incentivised to start growing cocoa beans, Gird explained.
Previously, these beans were too expensive for many small-scale farmers, but chocolate’s value surge given these farmers an added incentive.
However, while farmers in places like Tanzania have been repairing the benefit of these price surges, this isn’t the case for countries like Ghana and the Ivory Coast where cocoa boards set the price.
“Some of those farmers there aren’t actually reaping the benefits of this extreme price hike because the prices are fixed there.”
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