After two years of inflationary prices across the globe, cocoa supply gets cheaper at last.

This is a great news for many involved in the market, from producers of raw materials to end-consumers of finished chocolate products. High cocoa price penalizes producers, which are usually located in poor countries (Africa, South America), because more expensive supply means higher end-product price and lower demand, hence reduced market liquidity and stock turnover. We are committed to sourcing good value chocolate so that you can enjoy good quality chocolate at fair price. Moonstruck chocolates are the perfect illustration of a good value brand which we carry on Savorique.

The sad part of the news is that this fall in price illustrates the influence speculators have on global cocoa prices as they exit cocoa positions on the futures contact exchange (contacts for July delivery of cocoa). History has proven that sharp increase in cocoa price is not the result of cocoa bean shortage. Conversely, fall in cocoa price has not been the direct consequence of oversupply.

The danger lies in artificial price volatility which obviously has a very nasty impact on soft commodities such as cocoa. It is artificial because this unwelcome volatility is triggered by investors pouring massive amount of money in futures cocoa contacts, tempted by potential gains on the commodity market.

We feel it is important to make you aware of how soft commodity prices are determined so you understand why your favorite chocolate gets more expensive or cheaper (in rare instances). It is also important you spread the word and even contact the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to share your concern. Staples (wheat, rice, cocoa…) should not be the subject of speculation. We know well it ends up most of the time by a price bubble, like the 2008 destructive real estate bubble.

Stay positive by eating flavonol-rich chocolates!

Tags: cacao, chocolate, chocolate price, chocolate supply, cocoa, cocoa futures, cocoa price, cocoa speculation, cocoa supply, commodity prices, food inflation, Moonstruck, Moonstruck chocolate, raw cocoa, raw material, raw material price, raw materials, soft commodity, speculation

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 4:58 pm and is filed under Gourmet Gifts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.