Is The World’s Chocolate Supply Coming To An End?

I can just hear my wife Lisa screaming in horror at the thought of no more chocolate...OH, THE  HUMANITY!! Try and picture holidays like Halloween without chocolate. It appears that our appetite for chocolate exceeds the ability of the world's cocoa plants to produce it because the plants are all but worn out, which could mean....(gulp) no more chocolate. Fortunately it's not quite time to panic, but the experts all agree something has to be done.  The demand for chocolate increases roughly 2.5 to 3 percent each year, which means about four million additional tons of cocoa are needed every year.

By 2020, the demand for chocolate could increase by as much as 25 percent....and that's a lot of chocolate! The good news is that farmers can simply grow more cocoa, right? WRONG!

According to Andrew Pederson, global chocolate manager for Mars, Inc., who make Milky Way and Snickers, "Cocoa has been almost completely static. The crops don't perform well. They're aging pretty badly and farmers don't have a lot of tools and training".

Experts are hopeful that newer and stronger cocoa plants can be developed to keep pace with the demand. Let's hope so because I can't imagine my wife living in a world with no chocolate, unless this is all a rouse to jack up prices......hmmmmmm.

[ABC News]