> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://thechocolatelife.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The High Co$t of Expen$ive Cocoa: Part 1 | #PodSaveChocolate - URL: https://thechocolatelife.com/the-high-cost-of-expensive-cocoa-podsavechocolate/ - Published: 2024-04-15T00:24:44.000Z - Updated: 2024-04-17T00:04:19.000Z - Description: Episode 35 of #PodSaveChocolate is a discussion about the current high cost of cocoa focusing more on why and how, than what. - Author: Clay Gordon - Tags: PodSaveChocolate, Live Stream ## **When and Where to Watch** 🗓️ This episode airs live, starting at 10:00 AM ****PDT**/****MST** (11:00 MDT, 12:00 CDT, 13:00 EDT) on Tuesday, April 16th, 2024. [The High Co$t of Expen$ive Cocoa | #PodSaveChocolateEpisode 35 OverviewThe high (and rising) cost of cocoa has been at the forefront of industry – and in the backs of the minds and in the wallets of consumers…![](https://www.youtube.com/s/desktop/f45068c8/img/favicon_144x144.png)YouTube![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QKzrHCPZrHQ/maxresdefault_live.jpg)](https://youtube.com/live/QKzrHCPZrHQ?ref=thechocolatelife.com) Click to watch in a new tab or window. Please subscribe (free!) to the [@PodSaveChocolate YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@podsavechocolate/featured?ref=thechocolatelife.com) as well as like this video, comment, and share to help grow the #PSC community. Link to [watch and comment](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/claygordon%5Fpodsavechocolate-cacao-cocoa-activity-7185432108906000384-s5se?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=member%5Fdesktop) on LinkedIn. Link to [watch and comment](https://www.facebook.com/TheChocolateLife/) on TheChocolateLife page on Facebook. --- ## **Episode 35 Overview** The high cost of cocoa has been at the forefront of industry – and in the backs of the minds and in the wallets of consumers – for close to a year now. An episode of TheChocolateLife:LIVE back in September of 2023 is where we first took a look at this phenomenon. [TCL LIVE | The High Co$t of CocoaEpisode 134 of #TheChocolateLifeLIVE is LIVE from 10:00 AM PDT / 1:00 PM EDT on Friday, September 22nd.![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/size/w256h256/2020/12/JR_Pods60x60FavIconCutoutButtons.png)The Chocolate LifeTheChocolateWire![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2023/09/awv-RNAxh9CJq-M-unsplash-Featured1920x1080.jpg)](https://thechocolatelife.com/tcl-live-the-high-cost-of-cocoa/) Since then, futures prices climbing a distressing 185% year-to-date (2024) and a mind-boggling 345% over the past 12 months (since March 2023). ![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2024/04/Futures-50Ychart.png) ![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2024/04/Futures-1Ychart.png) ![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2024/04/Futures-FuturesTable.png) In this episode of #PodSaveChocolate we’ll not only take a look at what is happening but take a dive into *why* – and then examine what it could mean for the future of cocoa and chocolate. 🗞️ [****Chocolate prices to keep rising as West Africa’s cocoa crisis deepens**](https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/westafrica-cocoa/?ref=thechocolatelife.com)****. \[Source: Reuters\]** [Photos: Chocolate prices to keep rising as West Africa’s cocoa crisis deepensGhana and its West African neighbour Ivory Coast face catastrophic harvests this season![](https://assets.gulfnews.com/images/icons/favicon-96x96.png)Gulf NewsCompiled by Nathaniel Lacsina, Senior Web Editor![](https://imagevars.gulfnews.com/2024/03/30/2024-03-28T130334Z_309784551_RC24B6A6USCA_RTRMADP_3_WESTAFRICA-COCOA_18e8fe81acb_medium.jpg)](https://gulfnews.com/photos/business/photos-chocolate-prices-to-keep-rising-as-west-africas-cocoa-crisis-deepens-1.1711812810457?slide=1&ref=thechocolatelife.com) [Why cocoa prices spiked and what it means for chocolate loversAfter a steady rise over two years, the price of cocoa beans skyrocketed this year, with futures contracts more than doubling in three months to reach a level in March twice as high as the previous record. It’s a progression that has its literal…![](https://cdn.ghanaweb.com/design/apple-touch-icon-180x180.png)GhanaWeb![](https://cdn.ghanaweb.com/imagelib/pics/407/40788892.jpg)](https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/Why-cocoa-prices-spiked-and-what-it-means-for-chocolate-lovers-1924133?ref=thechocolatelife.com) [Weather Influence on West Africa Cocoa Supply: 2023-24 Recap and 2024-25 Opportunities2024: A Year of Soaring Cocoa Prices Cocoa continues to steal the spotlight in 2024, with futures soaring an impressive 185.24% year-to-date and a staggering 345% over the past 12 months, as chocolate companies scramble for non-available beans.![](https://static.licdn.com/aero-v1/sc/h/al2o9zrvru7aqj8e1x2rzsrca)Fuad Mohammed Abubakar![](https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/D4E12AQFatf8aOGSq9Q/article-cover_image-shrink_720_1280/0/1713122486458?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=J8-lJ1aAVVKOiDK4EzrbInNVmgmO0vJ0cbKoIozbYlA)](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/weather-influence-west-africa-cocoa-supply-2023-24-recap-abubakar-ugvue/?ref=thechocolatelife.com) On LinkedIn, the author is the UK Head of the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Co. --- ### What No One **Else** Is Reporting! 💡 There are some important (in my experience and opinion) topics that I have not seen discussed anywhere else, until this episode. ### Changing Industry Dynamics – Questions to Consider The following questions are, for me, the most important things to consider when it comes to the current prices and the long-term effects. - Do projects like the Be Slavery Free Chocolate Scorecard normalize industry practices in a way that can be seen to be regressive? (H/T Tim McCollum of Beyond Good for mentioning this point.) - Are we at an inflection point with respect to how big cocoa does business? - What could this mean for the future of tight government control? - What do the current prices mean for specialty chocolate? (And what about alt.chocolates?) - What are the lost opportunities – and the lost-opportunity costs? - The potential impact of the 2024 US presidential election on costs. --- ### **An AI’s Takes on Visualizing Today’s Topic** I took a look through my standard stock image sources – Unsplash and Adobe Stock – for images I could use for the “hero” title image. None seemed appropriate. I was reminded of an update to the version of Photoshop I used and a notice for Adobe’s Firefly (generative AI) was presented and I decided to give it ago. All of the prompts incorporate “the high cost of expensive cocoa” and I played around with concepts, themes, styles, and lighting settings to generate about twenty different options. Below are some of the ones I did not choose for the hero position. I must admit I was curious to know what Firefly would render and I found some of the results to be absolutely hilariously inventive. But when asking to render realistic photos, the engine struggled, mightily. But, in general, I found Firefly faster to achieve a usable image than Dream Studio or Dall-E, though it’s also interesting to see how the different models render different images from the same prompts. ![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2024/04/Firefly-the-high-cost-of-expensive-cocoa-27119-Large.jpeg) ![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2024/04/Firefly-cacao-beans-in-a-1700s-chocolate-factory-28696-Large.jpeg) ![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2024/04/Firefly-the-high-cost-of-expensive-cocoa-40157--2--Large.jpeg) ![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2024/04/Firefly-the-high-cost-of-expensive-cocoa-40157-Large.jpeg) ![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2024/04/Firefly-the-high-cost-of-expensive-cacao-against-a-background-of-paper-currency-32374-Large.jpeg) ![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2024/04/Firefly-the-high-cost-of-expensive-cocoa-40157--3--Large.jpeg) ![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2024/04/Firefly-cross-section-of-a-ripe-cacao-pod-isolated-on-white-background-with-clipping-path--cocoa-fru-Large.jpeg) One thing the Firefly LLM is not aware of is the pentagonal geometry of cacao. Here there are six seeds; sometimes there were ten and the lack of knowledge is reflected in getting the ridge count on the exterior wrong, too. --- ### **Episo**de Hashtags a**nd Related Accounts to Follow** #AdobeFirefly #cocoa #cacao #cacau #chocolate #chocolat #craftchocolate #PodSaveChocolate #PodSaveChoc #LaVidaCocoa #TheChocolateLife --- ### **Next Episode** The topic/guest for the Friday, April 19th episode of PodSaveChocolate was not finalized prior to the publication date of this post. --- ### **#PodSaveChocolate and #TheChocolateLifeLIVE Archives** **To read an archived post** and find the links to watch archived episodes, click on one of the bookmark cards, below. [Pod Save Chocolate Calendar and ArchiveNews, views, and conversations on topics in cocoa and chocolate streamed live to YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook. #PodSaveChocolate!![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/size/w256h256/2020/12/JR_Pods60x60FavIconCutoutButtons.png)The Chocolate LifeClay Gordon![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2023/11/TagImageBanner-PodSaveChocTagFinal_1920x1080-5.jpg)](https://thechocolatelife.com/pod-save-chocolate-calendar-and-archive/) [#TheChocolateLifeLIVE ArchiveNews, views, and conversations on topics in cocoa and chocolate streamed live to YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook.![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/size/w256h256/2020/12/JR_Pods60x60FavIconCutoutButtons.png)The Chocolate LifeClay Gordon![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2023/03/solen-feyissa-WG7v_wYZW4Q-unsplash-CalendarFeatured1920x1080.jpg)](https://thechocolatelife.com/thechocolatelife-live-calendar/) ## Not a Member? 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