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It's a bittersweet 復活祭 for chocolate lovers and African cocoa 農業者s but big brands see 利益（をあげる）s

Published: 07:09 BST, 28 March 2024 | Updated: 05:30 BST, 29 March 2024

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ACCRA, Ghana (AP) - Shoppers may get a bitter surprise in their 復活祭 baskets this year. Chocolate eggs and bunnies are more expensive than ever as changing 気候 patterns eat into 全世界の cocoa 供給（する）s and the 収入s of 農業者s in West Africa.

About three-４半期/4分の1s of the world´s cocoa - the main 成分 in chocolate - are produced on cacao trees in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon. But dusty seasonal 勝利，勝つd from the Sahara were 厳しい in 最近の months, 封鎖するing out the sunlight needed for bean pods to grow. The season 事前の, 激しい降雨 spread a rotting 病気.

With 輸出（する）s from the Ivory Coast, the world´s 最高の，を越す生産者, 負かす／撃墜する by a third in 最近の months, the 全世界の price of cocoa has risen はっきりと. Cocoa 未来s have already 二塁打d this year, 貿易（する）ing at a 記録，記録的な／記録する high of more than $10,000 per metric トン in New York on Tuesday after rising more than 60% the previous year. 農業者s who 収穫 cacao beans say the 増加するs aren't enough to cover their lower 産する／生じるs and higher 生産／産物 costs.

Yet the high 復活祭需要・要求する for chocolate carries a 可能性のある扱う／治療する for big confectionery companies. Major 全世界の製造者s in Europe and the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs have more than passed on the rise in cocoa prices to 消費者s. 逮捕する利益（をあげる）利ざやs at The Hershey Company 増加するd to 16.7% in 2023 from 15.8% in 2022. Mondelez International, which owns the Toblerone and Cadbury brands, 報告（する）／憶測d a jump to 13.8% in 2023 from 8.6% the year before.

"It is likely 消費者s will see a price spike on chocolate candy this 復活祭," 井戸／弁護士席s Fargo said in a 報告（する）／憶測 this month.

Mondelez said it raised chocolate prices up to 15% last year and would consider 付加 price 引き上げ（る）s to help 会合，会う 2024 歳入 growth 予測（する）s. "Pricing is 明確に a 重要な構成要素 of this 計画（する）," 長，指導者財政上の Officer Luca Zaramella said in January. "Its 出資／貢献 will be a little bit いっそう少なく than we have seen in 2023, but it is higher than an 普通の／平均（する） year."

Niaz Mardan 包むs a 高級な handmade ベルギー chocolate rabbit at Sandrine a chocolate shop in south west London, Thursday, March 21, 2024. Niaz Mardan, is 苦しむing 予定 to high cocoa prices, she's making no 利益（をあげる）s and 恐れるs she will have to の近くに the shop that's been around for 25 years (she's the third owner and took over in 2019). (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Hershey's also raised prices on its 製品s last year and has not 支配するd out making その上の増加するs. "Given where cocoa prices are, we will be using every 道具 in our toolbox, 含むing pricing, as a way to manage the 商売／仕事," Hershey Chairman, 大統領 and CEO Michele Buck said during a 会議／協議会 call with 投資家s last month.

消費者 groups are keeping 跡をつける. In the 部隊d Kingdom, British 消費者研究 and services company Which? 設立する that chocolate 復活祭 eggs and bunnies from popular brands like Lindt and Toblerone cost about 50% more this year. It said some candy eggs were smaller, too.

Cocoa is 貿易（する）d on a 規制するd, 全世界の market. 農業者s sell to 地元の売買業者s or 過程ing 工場／植物s, who then sell cocoa 製品s to 全世界の chocolate companies. Prices are 始める，決める up to a year in 前進する. Many 農業者s 非難する気候 change for their poor 刈るs. Cacao trees only grow の近くに to the 赤道 and are 特に極度の慎重さを要する to changes in 天候.

"The harmattan was 厳しい at the time the pods were supposed to develop," Fiifi Boafo, a spokesperson at the Ghana Cocoa Board, said, referring to the 冷静な／正味の貿易（する）勝利，勝つd that carry enough dust to 封鎖する out the sunlight needed for the trees to flower and produce beans.

Months of rain also are 存在非難するd for 黒人／ボイコット pod 病気, a fungal 感染 that 栄えるs in cooler, wet and cloudy 天候, and 原因（となる）s pods to rot and harden.

"While we have a good price today, that´s not it. The cacao hasn´t even produced any (fruit)," Eloi Gnakomene, a cacao 農業者 in Ivory Coast, said last month. "People say that we´ve had a bit, but those living over that way, they´ve had nothing."

Opanin Kofi Tutu, a cacoa 農業者 in the eastern Ghana town of Suhum, said the 不足（高） in 生産／産物 coupled with higher fertilizer costs are making it difficult to 生き残る. "The 交流率 to the dollar is 殺人，大当り us," he said.

Chocolate isn't even one of the traditions Tutu associates with 復活祭. "I am looking 今後 to my wife´s kotomir and plantain, not chocolates," he said, referring to a 地元の sauce 用意が出来ている with cocoyam leaves.

To help 増加する生産／産物, 当局 are 促進するing education on farming methods that might mitigate the 影響s of 気候 change, such as the use of irrigation systems. The 大統領，／社長 of Ghana also has 約束d to step in to help 農業者s get a better 取引，協定.

"With the 現在の傾向 of the world cocoa price, cocoa 農業者s can be sure that I will do 権利 by them in the next cocoa season," 大統領 Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said last month.

The 国家の小売連合, an American 貿易（する）協会, 推定する／予想するs spending this 復活祭 to remain high by historical 基準s にもかかわらず rising candy prices. Its 最新の調査する showed that 消費者s were 推定する／予想するd to spend $3.1 billion on chocolate eggs and bunnies and other 甘いs this 復活祭, 負かす／撃墜する from $3.3 billion a year ago.

In Switzerland, home to the world's biggest 消費者s of chocolate per capita, 国内消費 melted わずかに last year, 落ちるing by 1% to 10.9kg per person, によれば産業協会 Chocosuisse. It linked the 下落する to the rise in 小売 chocolate prices.

The nation´s 署名 chocolate 製造者, Lindt & Spr?ngli, 報告（する）／憶測d 増加するd profitability, with 利ざやs rising to 15.6% from 15% a year earlier.

"Lindt & Spr?ngli Group´s 商売／仕事 model once again 証明するd to be very successful in the 財政上の year 2023," it said in a 声明 this month, 公式文書，認めるing that prices 増加するs accounted for most of the growth.

Yet some smaller 商売／仕事s that sell chocolate are finding it hard to keep up with the spike in cocoa prices while their sales 拒絶する／低下する.

Sandrine Chocolates, a shop in London that sells handmade ベルギー chocolates, is struggling to 生き残る after １０年間s in 商売／仕事. The owner, Niaz Mardan, said the U.K.'s cost-of-living 危機 and weak economy leave people worrying more about food than 高級な chocolate, 特に when cheaper 代案／選択肢s were 利用できる at big grocery 蓄える／店s.

She has let go of her two 従業員s and relies on sales at 復活祭 and Christmas to stay afloat. "Many, many times, I thought to の近くに the shop, but because I love the shop, I don´t want to の近くに it," Mardan, 57, said. "But there is no 利益（をあげる） at all."

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Donati 報告（する）／憶測d from Dakar, Senegal. AP 新聞記者／雑誌記者s Courtney Bonnell in London, Damian J. Troise in New York and Jamey Keat en in Geneva 与える／捧げるd 報告（する）／憶測ing.

高級な handmade ベルギー Chocolates are seen 陳列する，発揮するd at Sandrine a chocolate shop owned by Niaz Mardan, in south west London, Thursday, March 21, 2024. Niaz Mardan, is 苦しむing 予定 to high cocoa prices, she's making no 利益（をあげる）s and 恐れるs she will have to の近くに the shop that's been around for 25 years (she's the third owner and took over in 2019). (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Cocoa pods hang on a tree in Divo, West-Central Ivory Coast, November 19, 2023. Chocolate may come with a わずかに bitter aftertaste this 復活祭. Shoppers in Europe, the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs and どこかよそで are 支払う／賃金ing more for their 伝統的な candy eggs and bunnies as changing 気候 patterns in West Africa take a （死傷者）数 on cocoa 供給（する）s and 農業者s (AP Photo/Sophie Garcia)

A 農業者 opens a Cocoa pod in Divo, West-Central Ivory Coast, November 19, 2023. Chocolate may come with a わずかに bitter aftertaste this 復活祭. Shoppers in Europe, the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs and どこかよそで are 支払う／賃金ing more for their 伝統的な candy eggs and bunnies as changing 気候 patterns in West Africa take a （死傷者）数 on cocoa 供給（する）s and 農業者s (AP Photo/Sophie Garcia)

Cocoa beans 乾燥した，日照りの in Divo, West-Central Ivory Coast, November 19, 2023. Chocolate may come with a わずかに bitter aftertaste this 復活祭. Shoppers in Europe, the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs and どこかよそで are 支払う／賃金ing more for their 伝統的な candy eggs and bunnies as changing 気候 patterns in West Africa take a （死傷者）数 on cocoa 供給（する）s and 農業者s (AP Photo/Sophie Garcia)

Niaz Mardan 包むs a 高級な handmade ベルギー chocolate 復活祭 egg at Sandrine a chocolate shop in south west London, Thursday, March 21, 2024. Niaz Mardan, is 苦しむing 予定 to high cocoa prices, she's making no 利益（をあげる）s and 恐れるs she will have to の近くに the shop that's been around for 25 years (she's the third owner and took over in 2019). (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Niaz Mardan moves a tray of 高級な handmade ベルギー chocolates at Sandrine a chocolate shop in south west London, Thursday, March 21, 2024. Niaz Mardan, is 苦しむing 予定 to high cocoa prices, she's making no 利益（をあげる）s and 恐れるs she will have to の近くに the shop that's been around for 25 years (she's the third owner and took over in 2019). (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A 選択 box of 高級な handmade ベルギー Chocolates is 陳列する，発揮するd at Sandrine a chocolate shop owned by Niaz Mardan, in south west London, Thursday, March 21, 2024. Niaz Mardan, is 苦しむing 予定 to high cocoa prices, she's making no 利益（をあげる）s and 恐れるs she will have to の近くに the shop that's been around for 25 years (she's the third owner and took over in 2019). (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Niaz Mardan places a large 高級な handmade ベルギー chocolate rabbit in the window 陳列する，発揮する of Sandrine a chocolate shop in south west London, Thursday, March 21, 2024. Niaz Mardan, is 苦しむing 予定 to high cocoa prices, she's making no 利益（をあげる）s and 恐れるs she will have to の近くに the shop that's been around for 25 years (she's the third owner and took over in 2019). (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)