The price of cocoa hit a record high in London on Thursday after an industry report said crop failures in west Africa in the first quarter had further exacerbated the global shortage of beans for chocolate.
Futures rose as much as 9.6 per cent to an all-time high of £9,477 a tonne, extending the rally since the start of the year as poor harvests in the world’s main growing regions in west Africa have worsened the shortfall.
The number of “grindings” — beans processed by the industry to eventually be turned into chocolate — fell by 2.5 per cent in the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year, according to the European Cocoa Association.