'We simply can't get enough cocoa:' CEO sheds light on chocolate crisis

The cocoa crisis: How climate change is disrupting a $60 billion market

Editors Note: Over the next few weeks, we’ll share a series of stories and a podcast from our interview with Seattle Chocolate Co. owner and CEO Jean Thompson, diving into the crisis facing chocolate makers, growers and those of us who love a sweet treat every now and then.

What you probably already know: The commodity price for cocoa is at an unprecedented high. In April, it crested $12,000 a ton and is now around $7,300, up from $2,700 a year ago. The volatility is causing issues for chocolate companies large and small, and there’s a growing concern that climate change could wipe out cocoa crops entirely by 2050, eliminating the $60 billion industry.

Why? Two-thirds of the world’s cocoa supply comes from two countries: Ghana and Ivory Coast, where disease has destroyed crops. Supplies are down 35% in Ghana and 25% in Ivory Coast. “We simply can’t get enough cocoa,” Seattle Chocolate owner and CEO Jean Thompson said. Speculators love a good supply chain issue, and have been shorting the commodity market, which has at times driven up prices even more.

What it means: The crisis has chocolatiers getting creative. Thompson’s company, which is 33 years old, began producing its own chocolate two years ago when it couldn’t source enough to keep up with demand. “The world honestly felt like it was going mad,” she said. “I was just done relying on other people for the future of my company.” So she took matters into her own hands. Now, Thompson buys the beans directly from farmers in Peru and processes the chocolate in her Seattle factory.

What happens now: The shortage has the big producers looking to new regions to supply their cocoa. “I hadn’t ever seen Hershey in Peru before,” Thompson said. But there they are, buying up beans wherever they can get them. Hershey’s latest sales numbers were up last year, but the company has been doing layoffs. Thompson is also watching these same big companies diversify away from chocolate or into products with less chocolate in them, like gummies and chocolate-covered nuts. “I feel like they’ve been anticipating this happening for a while and don’t want to get caught flat footed,” she said.