Chocolate Prices on the Rise

Call it the cocoa conundrum, or the Valentine’s Day dilemma. No matter how you slice it, one thing is for sure, chocolate loves aren’t going to like it.

According to Carmen Romeo of Fascia’s Chocolates in Waterbury, experts are predicting more chocolate consumption than cacao growers can keep up with.

The good news: it isn’t happening just yet. The bad news: when it does, a bite from your favorite box could cost you.

“We are going to do everything we can to not change our prices but it might be inevitable. I can't look into a crystal ball,” said Romeo.

It's the same way no one could foresee the Ebola outbreak. Romeo said the inability of workers to travel from one farm to another in Africa temporarily tampered with the cocoa bean harvest there.

Other cost concerns have to do with chocolate’s growing popularity in places like China and India.

“There was an almond issues not too long ago, even peanuts; peanut butter went through the roof. There are a lot of things that cost as much or more than the chocolate,” said Romeo.

Despite 15-20 percent fluctuations, Romeo is working hard to keep his prices stable. He also said work is being done by the major chocolate companies around the world to steady supplies.

“They are actually working in the countries where chocolate is produced, to work with farmers to make their crops better, to have more yield, to have more trees and not lose trees,”

So turn that frown upside down, Romeo promises the chocolate chain will continue.

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