(ZEROHEDGE) – Cocoa prices climbed to a 46-year high this week in New York as concerns mount that seasonal Harmattan winds across West Africa could dry cocoa fields and reduce yields for the Ivory Coast’s mid-crop in April. This would pressure global cocoa production even further.
Bloomberg reports the most active cocoa futures jumped as much as 2.2% to $4,961 per ton in New York. Prices are up 126% since Sept. 2022, threatening to raise costs for the world’s top chocolate makers, such as The Hershey Company.
According to Donald Keeney, senior meteorologist at Maxar Technologies Inc., average temperatures across West Africa are 2 degrees Celsius above normal for the next few weeks. He said the region was “a lot drier and warmer than usual for the past month” and will continue this trend, adding that the Harmattan “is certainly a bit stronger than usual this year.”
