Price of cocoa beans rises

A Fredericton chocolate maker is keeping a worried eye on the price of cocoa beans, which has more than tripled in recent years.

Uwe Kuester, owner of Chocolaterie Fackleman & The Schnitzel Parlour, holds up a tray of chocolate truffles Friday afternoon at the Silverwood Motel. The price of cocoa beans is going up but so far, Kuester says, it hasn't slowed business.

Uwe Kuester, who runs Chocolaterie Fackleman in Silverwood, said Friday the big price increase in his main ingredient hasn't hurt his business too much.

"We are a small, small, small company ... so we don't go and buy thousands and thousands of pounds," he said.

"We noticed that the chocolate prices increased over a period of time."

The price of cocoa beans has risen from $1,000 US a tonne in 2000 to $3,500 US a tonne in 2011, according to a recent Globe and Mail newspaper article.

About three million tonnes of cocoa beans are harvested annually. About 40 per cent of it comes from the West African country of Ivory Coast, which is racked with political unrest.

The country recently banned the export of cocoa beans.

It takes 300 to 600 cocoa beans to make one kilogram of chocolate, depending on the concentration of cocoa desired, according to Wikipedia.

Kuester said he sells a premium product and his customers understand that comes with a premium price.

"The customers I have, they really understand that when we have increased prices for shipping or for chocolate or whatever, that I have to fit my prices a little bit," he said.

"I try to keep my prices as low as possible."

There's no substitute for cocoa beans when it comes to making chocolate.

"We don't use any additives," said Kuester.

"If we have to add to chocolate it is only natural flavours or cocoa butter to increase the richness and the flavor."

If the price of cocoa beans continues to climb, he said, it will be more of a concern.

Kuester said he's also worried about increases in other prices such as gasoline that affect the overall household budget.

"Cocoa and chocolate is a luxury item," he said.

"This is not a main food you really need and this is where my concern starts with people really cutting down.

"Then it will hurt us."

In the normal economics of supply and demand, when the price of a commodity sky rockets, suppliers usually produce more to take advantage of a higher profit.

But Kuester said cocoa beans only grow in certain parts of the world.

"You don't have a lot of choices when it comes to planting cocoa beans," he said.

"The cocoa beans need a certain temperature, need a certain humidity. This is the problem."

He said he would not want producers to hurt quality by trying to produce more beans from existing sources by using more pesticides.

He also said there may be the possibility of growing cocoa beans in greenhouses but that would probably affect the price.

Ganong Bros Ltd., Canada's oldest independent candy maker based in St. Stephen, couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

(Source: http://www.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1383817)