Cocoa bean price surge, supply issues affects Easter chocolate costs – KOMO News

The big ears on your chocolate Easter bunny will come with a big price tag this year.The price of cocoa beans is now surging faster than bitcoin and gold. Chocolatiers are feeling the pressure."We spend most of our life worrying about the price of cocoa and the rest of it worrying about the temperature of the chocolate," said Andrew Nason, CEO of Melt Chocolates.Some shops are selling chocolate eggs for $80.The price for cocoa beans has doubled since January. It\'s more than tripled in the

last 12 months, draining wallets for other big celebrations like Valentine\'s Day.The problem is a drastic drop in supply. Most cocoa beans are grown in West Africa."If you consider the number of farms that have been destroyed, clearly the impact is one that has been enormous," said Fifi Boufour, Cocobod Communications Director.Severe weather and plant disease have hit fields hard. In Ghana, the cocoa marketing board says many farmers are giving up ground to gold miners."If you have all these farms being lost, productivity being lost as a result of illegal mining, then its impact on the industry is one we are really struggling to deal with," said Boufour.With a continued decline in production, prices are forecasted to rise even more.