cocoa

Why those Valentine's Day chocolates will be even more expensive this year

2:31pm February 12, 2025

Another cocoa harvest in West Africa has come up short, leading to the worst deficit in decades. That means higher prices for chocolate makers and for shoppers.

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Chocolate Easter bunnies wait to be decorated at a shop in Belgium.

Pricier Easter bunnies and eggs. Half-dipped Kit Kats. What's up with chocolate?

9:43am March 29, 2024

by Alina Selyukh

The price of cocoa is on a wild historic ride: It topped the all-time record before Valentine's Day and almost doubled since then, in time for Easter. The culprit is the weather.

Chocolate-makers and sellers have been raising prices to keep up with the skyrocketing costs of cocoa.

Cocoa prices spiked to an all-time high right before Valentine's Day

4:22pm February 12, 2024

by Alina Selyukh

Chocolate lovers won't see a sudden price spike for Valentine's Day — because the cost already has been rising for months. Extreme weather is largely to blame.

Cocoa contains compounds called flavanols, which have been shown to improve blood flow and lower blood pressure.

Is chocolate good for your heart? Finally the FDA has an answer – kind of

5:00am February 12, 2023

by Allison Aubrey

For years, chocolate-lovers have pointed to studies suggesting compounds in cocoa may be good for heart health. But some of the recent evidence comes from flavanol-rich cocoa, not from candy bars

Shadrack Frimpong accepts his Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award in Louisville on September 12.

A Brush With Death Propelled A 9-Year-Old To A Muhammad Ali Award

5:52pm September 13, 2019

by Diane Cole

As a poor, sick village boy in Ghana, Shadrack Frimpong remembers "praying and saying if I can keep these legs, then I will use them and work to help other people." And that's exactly what he did.

Farmer Georges Kouamé Koffi holding two cocoa pods. Chocolate is made from the almond-sized cocoa beans contained in the pods.

A Dip In Global Prices Creates Cocoa Crisis For Ivory Coast's Farmers

4:46pm March 03, 2017

by Alex Duval Smith

Ivory coast is the world's largest cocoa producer. But a bumper crop combined with a fall in the global demand for chocolate and a dip in cocoa prices are hurting the country's cocoa farmers.

Eduardo Cortes (right) and Jose Martinez Cruzado examining one of the cocoa trees that Cruzado is growing for Cortes's company.

Reviving Puerto Rico's Cocoa Farms, Centuries After Hurricanes Destroyed Them

5:30pm March 01, 2017

by Dan Charles

Cocoa plantations in Puerto Rico were wiped out centuries ago. Now, local pride and the sheer love of chocolate are bringing back local cocoa.

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Cocoa pods in Ivory Coast, one of the world's top producers of cocoa. Climate models suggest that West Africa, where much of the world's cocoa is grown, will get drier, which could affect supply.

World News

As Big Food Feels Threat Of Climate Change, Companies Speak Up

2:15pm December 01, 2015

by Dan Charles

A warming climate is likely to disrupt global food production, which has Big Food companies worried. Some, like Mars, are becoming increasingly vocal advocates for action on greenhouse gas emissions.

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Farmer Issiaka Ouedraogo walks past cocoa pods growing on a tree, on a cocoa farm outside the village of Fangolo, near Duekoue, Ivory Coast in May 2011.

World News

Why The World Might Be Running Out Of Cocoa Farmers

3:16pm July 05, 2015

by Eliza Barclay

West African cocoa farmers earn less than $1 a day. Those low wages could jeopardize the future of chocolate labor, as young farmers find better opportunities to earn a living, a new report warns.

Rows of potted cocoa plants from around the world. Before a cocoa variety from one country can be planted in another, it first makes a pit stop here, at a quarantine center in rural England.

The Fate Of The World's Chocolate Depends On This Spot In Rural England

1:49pm March 17, 2015

by Ari Shapiro

Cocoa is unusually susceptible to disease. Every year, a third of the crop is destroyed, even as the appetite for chocolate grows. That's why the world needs the International Cocoa Quarantine Centre.

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