Cocoa futures contracts surge to all-time highs amid worsening supply crisis.

Cocoa futures prices listed on the New York Stock Exchange rose during trading on Monday to reach their highest levels ever, amid growing concerns about a global supply shortage of cocoa beans, which is likely to exacerbate the already high cocoa costs for chocolate makers and consumers alike.

This significant increase in global cocoa prices comes at a time when a crop failure crisis in West African countries - the largest cocoa-producing region in the world - has led to a supply shortfall for the third consecutive year, with ongoing threats to current cocoa crops due to adverse weather conditions, including heavy rains and dry winds.

Additionally, recent months have seen a significant decline in U.S. cocoa inventories, signaling further shortages in global supply, prompting major chocolate manufacturers worldwide, led by American company Hershey, to raise cocoa product prices.

Furthermore, the risks threatening the global cocoa supply continue to worsen due to crop diseases and declining farmers’ wages, as new trees take years to produce.

In trading, March cocoa futures prices rose by 4.65% to reach $11,815 per ton, after earlier in the session, they had briefly surged to $11,839 per ton, indicating profits of nearly three times this year.