Cocoa prices are falling — but not in time for Easter | CNN Business

This year’s Easter baskets will come with a higher price tag and a little less chocolate, despite lower cocoa prices. Cocoa — the key ingredient in chocolate — has been steadily falling in price from its all-time high in 2024, when cocoa beans were trading for over $12,000 a ton. Today, they’re about $3,300 a ton. But that drop hasn’t trickled down to what consumers are paying. Candy prices are up 11.6% in the last year, according to February’s Consumer Price Index. The reason: The Easter chocolate on shelves today was produced using cocoa purchased at its extreme high, according to David Branch, sector manager at the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute. “2024 was the culmination of three successive years of unfavorable weather events in West Africa,” Branch told CNN. West African countries are the largest suppliers of cocoa in the world. Ghana and Ivory Coast alone produce 60% of the world’s cocoa. Extreme weather conditions like higher temperatures and torrential rains caused poor crop yields three years in a row. Valentine’s Day sticker shock: Chocolate prices are spiking Consecutive years of drops in production led to one of the largest-ever supply deficits of c