Looming chocolate drought may leave some short on sweets


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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's budding chocolate industry may see some slowing as weather, demand, political turmoil and even Ebola take their toll on cocoa bean supplies.

Bloomberg reported a potential global cacao shortage of 1 million metric tons by 2020, according to Mars Inc. and Barry Callebaut, two of the world's biggest chocolate makers. A similar panic was raised in 2011 when The Daily Mail reported that political troubles in the Ivory Coast had affected fair trade training and the cost of cocoa.

News outletsacrossthenation have raised alarms, including local chocolate owners, while others say there may not be much to worry about just yet.

Art Pollard, co-owner of Orem-based Amano chocolates, has seen evidence of a shortage in his work and says it will hit people's wallets.

"Most people are going to experience (the shortage) by significant price increases," he said.

Pollard travels the world to find the best beans for bars made at locally owned and run Amano chocolate — winner of International and London chocolate awards.

He reported some troubles in the market: Increased demand has created a thinner bean supply as the treat becomes more popular in China and India; drought damaged and stressed trees are producing fewer quality beans; and in Africa, where the majority of beans are grown, some workers — afraid of contracting Ebola — are refusing to work on certain plantations.


They're going to still have their chocolate one way or another. They just might not have as much of it as they want.

–Eric Durtschi


This is the first time that Eric Durtschi, owner of Lindon-based Crio Bru Inc., has seen the high-end chocolate industry hit by turmoil in cocoa growing regions.

"Most people who are affected by what's going on are the M&M's, the Mars, the Hershey's. Those guys who buy the lowest-quality cocoa beans," he said, while those in the bean to bar or drink movement seek out higher end beans.

If beans become unavailable in African regions, Durtschi worries that larger corporations may move over to Central and South America regions where he buys his beans, "and they'll kick little guys like me out."

Panic may subside with the efforts of cocoa sustainability experts like Mars' Shayna Harris, featured in Businessweek earlier this year. She is working to make sure the crop has a successful future.

"Cocoa beans are an orphan crop. Governments and agricultural companies have not invested in cocoa science, particularly compared to such cash crops as corn, wheat, and soybeans," Harris told Businessweek. "As a result, there’s been very little modernization of cocoa farming techniques. The vast majority of cocoa growers don’t have a plow. At harvest time, they use a machete."

Through Mars' Sustainable Cocoa Initiative, farmers receive training and improved planting materials and fertilizers. The initiative has also created networks of entrepreneurs in rural areas to help rehabilitate cocoa growing regions.

If you're a chocolate-lover, you already understand how precious these chocolate beans (the raw material of your favorite treat) are. But in a few years, it's possible higher prices could really hit you with a new awareness.
If you're a chocolate-lover, you already understand how precious these chocolate beans (the raw material of your favorite treat) are. But in a few years, it's possible higher prices could really hit you with a new awareness.

The International Cocoa Organization disagrees with the chocolate doomsday prophecies, saying that while the industry may be affected in small amounts, production will remain essentially the same for the next five years.

"What we're looking at is a very tight, close relationship between production and consumption. There might be a small, fairly insignificant deficit or a small, fairly insignificant surplus," Michael Segal, International Cocoa Organization spokesman, told USA Today.

Even if a chocolate shortage comes to pass, Durtschi said he believes people will still flock to purchase the treat.

"A lot of these things become a part of your daily life, and it's not so much that it is a luxury any more as a necessity," he said. "They're going to still have their chocolate one way or another. They just might not have as much of it as they want."

Shanlee Robertson is among those who see the bean as a staple item. She was in the Lindon Crio Bru store Monday stocking up on the drink.

"It's something that I miss when I don't have it," she said.

Contributing: Rich Piatt

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