British shoppers are being encouraged to buy Fairtrade chocolate this Easter as the cocoa industry is in turmoil due to poor harvests.
Cocoa prices have hit new highs recently because of extreme weather and disease affecting crops in Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world's biggest exporters. On Tuesday, cocoa beans were trading for more than £7,900 a tonne on global commodity markets, with prices having already doubled in 2024.
Easter eggs from popular brands like Mars, Lindt and Cadbury are now at least 50% more expensive than last year, or they've become smaller, says a study by consumer group Which? With Easter weekend coming up, Fairtrade UK is asking people to buy chocolate made with cocoa that farmers were paid a fair price for.
Maltesers, Mars multipack bars, Green & Blacks, Tony's Chocolonely and own-brand products at supermarkets like the Co-op, Lidl and Marks & Spencer all use Fairtrade cocoa. Fairtrade says many farmers in West Africa live below the extreme poverty line and earn just 6% of the final value of a chocolate bar on average.
While higher prices might seem like good news for farmers, Fairtrade says the reasons behind them are worrying. These record prices are due to a drop in global supply caused by climate change effects, as well as increased costs of production and living for farmers because of inflation.
The Fairtrade Foundation has warned that the "boom and bust pricing" of cocoa is unsustainable for smallholder farmers. They need more stability to invest in their farms and adapt to increasingly unpredictable weather conditions.
Fairtrade Foundation chief executive Michael Gidney said: "Cocoa farmers are facing a fourth successive year of crop losses caused by changes in climate. They tell us that it's becoming very difficult to grow cocoa because rainfall patterns have changed, temperatures are rising and farming costs have gone up. When your crop fails, you lose your income."
The overall price of chocolate has increased by 12.6% in a year significantly more than the 5.6% rise seen on supermarket food and drink generally, according to the Which? supermarket food and drink inflation tracker.
Analysts have said price rises seen for chocolate products this Easter are likely to be part of a longer trend. Fairtrade warned that structural poverty among farmers is one of the root causes of deforestation. This is because low incomes lead people to turn to raw materials in forests that can fulfil basic needs such as food and energy.
Over the past 30 years, Ghana is believed to have lost 65% of its forest cover, while the Ivory Coast has lost about 90% of its forests, making the effects of climate change in these countries worse. Fairtrade, which is celebrating its 30th birthday this year, is urging the UK Government to provide funding and legal changes to its proposed deforestation laws to help small farmers with the cost of compliance and build sustainable businesses.
The new rules being created by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) would stop businesses from trading in goods linked to illegal deforestation.