为什么巧克力变得越来越贵

经济学人：

Feb 28th 2024 2024 年 2 月 28 日

IF YOU’RE A chocoholic you may have noticed that your habit has lately become dearer. The price of cocoa began creeping up in the second half of 2022. Since then it has doubled, reaching an all-time high in January 2024 (see chart 1). That steep rise spells trouble for the chocolate business and sweet-toothed consumers alike. Hershey and Mondelez International, the owner of Cadbury, passed on these costs to shoppers last year. Hershey’s year-on-year profits fell by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. The company recently announced that it would cut 5% of its workforce. Barry Callebaut, the world’s biggest chocolate-maker, said that it would lay off 2,500 people, 19% of its workforce.

如果您是一名巧克力狂，您可能会注意到您的习惯最近变得更加昂贵。可可价格从 2022 年下半年开始攀升。此后价格翻了一番，并于 2024 年 1 月达到历史新高（见图 1）。这种急剧上涨给巧克力行业和爱吃甜食的消费者带来了麻烦。去年，好时和吉百利的所有者亿滋国际将这些成本转嫁给了消费者。好时第四季度利润同比下降 11.5%。该公司最近宣布将裁员 5%。全球最大的巧克力制造商百乐嘉利宝 (Barry Callebaut) 表示，将裁员 2,500 人，占其员工总数的 19%。

Climate patterns are partly to blame for rising costs. Cocoa is mostly produced by small farmers in West Africa. Ghana and Ivory Coast grow about 60% of the world’s crop (see chart 2). Last season the El Niño weather pattern led to unseasonably high temperatures and rainfall that ravaged crops. Total rainfall in Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing areas in 2023 was the highest in 20 years, according to Gro Intelligence, a data firm.

气候模式是成本上升的部分原因。可可主要由西非的小农生产。加纳和科特迪瓦的农作物产量约占世界总量的 60%（见图 2）。上个季节，厄尔尼诺天气模式导致反常的高温和降雨，毁坏了农作物。数据公司 Gro Intelligence 的数据显示，2023 年科特迪瓦可可种植区的总降雨量创 20 年来最高。

image: The Economist 图片来源：《经济学家》

This year El Niño has brought severe drought to the cocoa farms, reducing production further. ING, a bank, estimates that this year the gap between global production and consumption will be at its widest since at least 2014 (see chart 3). Extreme weather patterns have hit other commodities, too. Droughts in Thailand and India are affecting rice plantations. Torrential rain in Brazil, the world’s biggest sugar exporter, has affected its exports .

今年厄尔尼诺现象给可可农场带来了严重干旱，产量进一步减少。 ING 银行估计，今年全球生产与消费之间的差距将达到至少 2014 年以来的最大水平（见图 3）。极端天气模式也影响了其他商品。泰国和印度的干旱正在影响水稻种植园。全球最大食糖出口国巴西遭遇暴雨，影响其出口。

But other price pressures are specific to the cocoa industry. Swollen-shoot virus and black-pod disease—killers of cocoa trees—spread across Ghana and Ivory Coast during heavy rainfall last year. Tropical Research Services, a research company, estimates that by the end of 2023 the swollen-shoot virus had infected around 20% of Ivory Coast’s cocoa trees.

但其他价格压力是可可行业特有的。去年暴雨期间，肿芽病毒和黑荚病（可可树的杀手）在加纳和科特迪瓦蔓延。研究公司热带研究服务公司估计，到 2023 年底，肿芽病毒已感染科特迪瓦约 20% 的可可树。

Structural factors are also at play. Governments in Ghana and Ivory Coast regulate cocoa markets heavily, and set prices for farmers. Current wholesale prices are 250% higher than Ghana’s farm-gate price in 2023, according to the Corporate Accountability Lab, a non-profit group. Thin margins discourage farmers from investing in new plantations (none have been created in Ivory Coast in almost 25 years). They also force farmers to cut back on fertiliser, making the trees more vulnerable to bad weather and disease. The cocoa industry is facing a bitter reckoning.■

结构性因素也在发挥作用。加纳和科特迪瓦政府严格监管可可市场，并为农民制定价格。根据非盈利组织企业责任实验室的数据，目前的批发价格比加纳 2023 年农场交货价格高出 250%。微薄的利润阻碍了农民投资新的种植园（科特迪瓦近 25 年来从未建立过任何种植园）。它们还迫使农民减少化肥用量，使树木更容易受到恶劣天气和疾病的影响。可可行业正面临惨痛的清算。■