Chocolate is one of the most universally loved things in the entire world, between its own flavor and all the delicious things its sweet taste can be involved in - but, according to experts, there could be a cocoa shortage in 2020 that could almost disappear chocolate off shelves and raise its prices.
Scary and terrible news for chocolate lovers (which means almost everyone in the world): apparently, there will be a cocoa shortage by 2020. According to The Independent, Swiss manufacturer Barry Callebaut Group, the largest chocolate company in the world, has warned that things might be getting tough within the next few years in the chocolate-making business.
While there have been warnings of a cocoa shortage in 2020, it's certainly the first time that the biggest chocolatier in the world raises the alarm, after Mars Inc. said that it was a possibility back in 2012, according to First Post.
While it's an ongoing situation, as chocolate demand is rising over its production, it seems that the cocoa shortage of 2020 will see the peak of the demand vs. supply ordeal. According to The Daily Mail, it seems like, for now, the chocolate-consuming market that has grown the most is the Asian one, where Barry Callebaut's sales grew by 9.3 percent last year, much more than in the Americas and western Europe.
New events such as the Ebola outbreak might have more to do with the upcoming cocoa shortage of 2020 than many believe: the fact is, most cocoa plantations in the world are actually located in West Africa, the area that has seen the worst devastation in the midst of the Ebola outbreak, damaging crops for safety and health concerns.
Due to this emergency, the world's chocolate production has decreased 0.7 percent since the outbreak began.
