Though the world is putting a stress on chocolate production, this can be seen as an indicator that more people are able to afford a once luxury item-chocolate.
Mars, Inc. and Swiss-based chocolate maker Barry Callebaut said that there could be less and less chocolate to eat in the near future-all because the world is eating too much of it.
Last year, the world consumed 70,000 metric tons more cocoa than it produced, in what is termed as a "chocolate deficit," where farmers produced less cocoa than the world eats.
The world has long past been in a state of chocolate deficit-over 50 years already and it seems like the world's ravenous appetite will not go down though, according to the two big chocolate makers themselves, by 2020, that number could shoot up 1 million metric tons; by 2030, the deficit could reach 2 million metric tons.
Chocolate lovers may already be cringing right now, and may have more reason to worry since Ghana and the Ivory Coast in Africa, where 70 percent of the world's cocoa comes from has significantly decreased production following unfavourable conditions like dry weather, and a more serious fungus called "frosty pod" that has wiped out between 30 to 40 percent of global cocoa production.
As a result, cocoa farmers are opting out of the chocolate business and choosing to plant more profitable crops like corn instead.
Aside from that, the increasing popularity of dark chocolate, which has more cocoa than your average traditional chocolate is of growing concern in this issue of chocolate shortage.
Because of all these reasons, chocolate prices have shoot up over 60 percent since 2012, with Hershey's being the first to increase their prices.
Despite the high prices, Barry Callebaut Group said that their sales are increasing by 11.8 percent every year, meaning to say that rising demand for chocolate means more and more people can afford it.
"In a way, chocolate - as a luxury item - is an indicator of a growing world middle class," Christian Science Monitor reports.
Then there's the world's insatiable appetite for chocolate, further increasing the demand.
In China, for example, Chinese are buying more and more chocolate every year, though their consumption is just a fraction of the amount (about 5 percent) Western Europeans eat.
The market for chocolate in South America, particularly in Brazil, expanded by a massive 7 percent, creating more jobs and boosting the country's economy.
Furthermore, as demand increases, it's a big possibility that cacao farmers will rise to the supply challenge.
As a matter of fact, Washington Post reports that an agricultural research group based in Central Africa has been working to produce cocoa trees that can produce seven times the amount of cocoa beans the average cocoa tree can.
