Cocoa Prices

Like every commodity, cocoa is subject to price fluctuations. Cycles of high and low cocoa prices impact the quality and quantity of cocoa production. Like most other agricultural crops, cocoa is subject to weather patterns and other influences which affect supply and demand, which in turn affect price. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, high prices stimulated expansion in plantings. An abundance of cocoa beans on the world market resulted in subsequent price declines and a drop in farm income. Farmers could no longer spend the money necessary to care for their cocoa trees and still make a living, which in turn encouraged widespread losses from pests and disease.