To a historical high: why world prices for cocoa beans have tripled over the past year. At auction on March 25 for the first time exceeded $9.6 thousand per 1 ton.
Experts attribute this to a global shortage of the product amid worsening weather conditions and a decline in harvests in West Africa. The market could also react to the tightening of legislation in the EU: now large producers of sweets will have to report to the European authorities that no forests had to be cut down to grow the cocoa beans used.