The global cocoa price hit $10,120/MT yesterday, triple its price last fall, and it is still unlikely to be at its apex. The cause is a sharp drop-off in production in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the two countries that produce nearly 65 percent of the world’s cocoa beans. Some have tried to blame climate change for the shortfall, but Steve Wateridge of Tropical Research Services rejects this assertion. He says El Nino may have reduced the Ecuadorean crop but problems with the critical crop in West Africa is rooted in management issues: Government run boards forward sell the supply and they did not anticipate the smaller crop and underpriced it.  The farmer has been receiving too little money for the crop, so they lac...

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