Enjoy those Easter eggs while you can: chocolate prices are expected to double by 2020 as cocoa supplies run low.
According to David Guest, professor of plant pathology at the University of Sydney, the squeeze is partly a result of farmers moving into higher-return crops such as coffee and maize, but it is also linked to the intense labour required to grow cocoa.
"It takes about three years after you plant a tree to start harvesting," said Professor Guest. "You need to look after these trees properly, which requires labour. And labour shortages are a real problem in the cocoa-growing areas".
Demand is also rapidly growing in places that have not previously consumed a lot of chocolate - particularly China and India. In Asia, demand is now almost seven times greater than in Europe. Even recent bumper cocoa crops cannot keep up.
"All eyes are on Asia," said Angus Kennedy, editor of trade magazine Kennedy's Confection. "Demand there, and in Nigeria and Vietnam, has seen consumption increases of up to 230 per cent a year. We are not making enough cocoa."
