World cocoa price soars to highest in 44 years

Cocoa surged to the highest level in 44 years as global shortages boost costs for chocolate makers.

Futures traded in New York jumped as much as 2.5% to the highest for a most-active contract since 1979. Behind the gains are forecasts for poor crops in top growers Ivory Coast and Ghana just as demand is signaling an improvement.

“The supply and demand situation remains bullish,” Jack Scoville, a vice president for Price Futures Group in Chicago, said in a report.

Cocoa for December delivery surged to $3,786 a metric ton in New York, the highest since January 1979. The price exceeded an earlier peak reached in March 2011, when civil war in Ivory Coast resulted in a cocoa export ban.

Bean deliveries to ports in Ivory Coast are about 16% behind this season, according to a person familiar with government data. Analysts are expecting a third consecutive deficit for the key chocolate ingredient.

All of that is happening as a strong El Niño threatens to bring dryness to West Africa, further hurting crops. Demand is also improving, with bean processing

in Europe turning out better than expected. Ivory Coast and Brazil are also boosting grindings.

Previously, supply shortages drove up cocoa prices back in the 1970s, with the commodity reaching a peak of $5,379 a ton in July 1977, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.