Why the cost of chocolate will keep rising

With Easter less than a month away, sweet-toothed consumers in Europe and North America are beginning to turn their thoughts towards chocolate. In the UK alone, tens of millions of milk chocolate eggs will be sold. But prices this year are expected to be higher than ever — and it is very little to do with existing inflationary pressures in the market.

Instead, it is a seemingly relentless rise in cocoa prices in recent months that is pushing up costs. Prices of beans have surged to all-time highs, with cocoa futures in New York more than doubling from the same period last year. On Tuesday cocoa futures in London traded at a record high of £5,827 per tonne. On the same day last year, they traded at £1,968.