Poor harvests in extreme weather conditions have led to a tripling of cocoa prices but farmers have seen no benefit Around the world this holiday weekend, people will consume hundreds of millions of Easter eggs and bunnies, as part of an annual chocolate intake that can exceed 8kg (18lb) for every person in the UK, or 5kg in and . But a global shortage of cacao the seed from which chocolate is made has brought warnings of a that could see prices increase and bars shrink further. This week, cocoa prices rose to all-time highs on commodity exchanges in London and New York, reaching more than for the first time, after the third consecutive poor harvest in west Africa. Ghana and Ivory Coast, which together produce more than half of the global cacao crop, have been hit by extreme weather and the El Nio weather phenomenon. This has been exacerbated by disease and underinvestment in ageing plantations.
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