{"id":789784,"date":"2024-09-05T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=789784"},"modified":"2024-09-05T10:41:54","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T08:41:54","slug":"great-news-for-chocolate-lovers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/789784\/great-news-for-chocolate-lovers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Great news for chocolate lovers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africans with a sweet tooth have had to suffer through some steep price hikes over the past year, but the tide may soon be turning as hopes rise that cocoa crop harvests will bring more supply to the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to analysis from Bloomberg, this has led to a 6.2% drop in cocoa futures, extending drops of 5.2% in recent sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cocoa prices have shot up over the past three years as hotter weather in West Africa\u2014one of the largest cocoa-producing regions in the world\u2014caused crops to fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prices surged to a record high of US$9,733\/ tonne late in March 2024 and topped US$10,051\/ tonne in April as inclement weather decimated yields in major production areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has been reflected in local pricing as well, with data from Stats SA showing that prices have surged since 2021, rising 23.3% (above inflation of 17%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of 2024, prices have risen 8.3%, and year-on-year, 12.8%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Global cocoa prices hit a 46-year high in 2024 but have now dropped to $6,898\/ tonne, which should bring relief to global price inflation, and spells good news for chocolate lovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Better weather in West Africa is expected to help the region\u2019s production partly recover from this season\u2019s poor harvests that drove record prices and\u00a0deficits,” Bloomberg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the analysts warned that futures are likely to\u00a0remain above historical levels\u00a0as other challenges like disease persist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe main crop is evolving quite well,\u201d said Luca Zaramella, chief financial officer of Mondelez International Inc., the maker of Oreo cookies and Toblerone bars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are still \u201ca few weeks to go, so we can\u2019t declare that the crop is going to be good yet for sure, but all indicators are there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bad news for coffee<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the prospects for chocolate lovers look better, coffee lovers are still sitting with some pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coffee futures rose by as much as 3.2% to $4,861 a ton, as exchange stockpiles remain low and concerns over Vietnam\u2019s output linger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Traders are also monitoring erratic weather in Brazil, where dryness has stressed coffee crops,” Bloomberg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Locally, the strain on global coffee can be seen in local inflation numbers, with tea and coffee inflation remaining elevated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price index for the category in July jumped sharply by 17.6%, up from 16.5% in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The largest annual price increases were recorded for instant coffee (up 21.8%), drinking chocolate (17.7%), black tea (15.7%), ground coffee and coffee beans (14.6%) and rooibos tea (11.1%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cappuccino sachets saw the lowest price increase in this category, rising by 7.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prospects for coffee and cocoa both hinge on the weather conditions in the regions that produce them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dry conditions in Brazil and Vietnam are threatening global coffee crops, with analysts warning that excessive dryness in Brazil may cause premature flowering of coffee trees and reduce yields for the country\u2019s 2024\/25 coffee crop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wetter weather in West Africa has already helped to push cocoa prices down, while incoming cold fronts to Brazil are likely to ease conditions for coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More erratic and extreme weather patterns are emerging as the world continues to face climate change and shifting conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: New smoking laws for South Africa want fines and jail time for lighting up around non-smokers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chocolate prices in South Africa have surged almost 13% over the past year, but some relief is on the cards as markets turn hopeful on global cocoa crops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":726972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-789784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":789794,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789784\/revisions\/789794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}