SaxoTV

Could the Ebola outbreak increase the cost of chocolate?

206 views
Saxo Bank's Head of Commodity Strategy Ole Hansen looks into the rising concerns over the impact of the West African Ebola outbreak on cocoa production. Cocoa is currently trading in a 13 percent range ahead of higher seasonal demand in the run up to Halloween and Christmas.
Cocoa is priced between 3000 and 3400 USD per tonne and has been struck in that range for many months. Ole says that while the threat from Ebola has not yet caused disruption, to harvesting or transportation of this year's crop, there is a real risk to the industry if the disease spreads from neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia into Ghana and Ivory Coast where around sixty percent of the world's cocoa is grown and processed.  
The average price of cocoa is already up thirty percent compared with the same period last year.