Cocoa prices hit record highs

Cocoa hit record highs in London and New York, triggered by a supply crunch due to bad weather in top producers Ghana and Ivory Coast.
The price of cocoa in New York rose to $6,030 a tonne, breaking its previous long-term peak of $5,379 in 1977.
London cocoa continued its record long week and hit a new high of £4,786 a tonne.
The sharp rise in the price of the cocoa market has raised concerns about the subsequent impact on the price of chocolate at a time when the world's largest economies are already struggling with high inflation.
"The continued (price) surge is due to a worse-than-expected deficit in 2023/2024, the third in a row, due to the unfavorable development of the situation in West Africa," noted Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen.
The West African countries of Ghana and Ivory Coast are the world's largest producers of the raw material, which is mostly used to make chocolate.
Both countries were hit by heavy rains that caused a difficult year for the harvest.
Producers are now also facing new shocks due to the resumption of the El Niño climate phenomenon, which is causing drought in some areas and floods in others. /BGNES