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A more accurate title might be: "world's biggest chocolate-maker tries to prepare customers for higher prices by disingenuously claiming that we will run out of

A more accurate title might be: "world's biggest chocolate-maker tries to prepare customers for higher prices by disingenuously claiming that we will run out of a renewable resource."

huhtenberg 12y ago
Exactly. I distinctly remember how several years ago Mexico manufactured Tequila shortage by claiming that disastrous weather led to a shortage of agave fruit. At least this was a story given by Canadian liquor stores to questions why Tequila prices were hiked by close to 50% almost overnight. I kid you not. They also issued assurances that once this pesky Mexican weather normalizes the prices will go back to normal. You guessed it - they never did.
- fosap 12y ago
  See the HDD "shortage".
  - vertex-four 12y ago
    In that particular case, there was a shortage - it was extremely difficult for even large businesses to get hard drives. The issue was that hard drive manufacturers were (are?) clustered around an area that got flooded.
    - uptown 12y ago
      Or the shortage was caused by the NSA filling their new data-center with as much capacity as it could get its hands on, covertly, and the flood was used as a convenient cover-story for the shortage.
      - Bluestrike2 12y ago
        Maybe the NSA even managed to engineer the flood itself? Yes, that sounds about right.
      - brador 12y ago
        It is a possibility that might have made the situation worse, but there really was a flood and many HDD factories were flooded and closed.
- Synaesthesia 12y ago
  Agave is still in short supply, that's why most "tequila" is cut with other liquors.
masklinn 12y ago
Also, most likely, "world's biggest chocolate-maker prepares ground for an other round of trying to bulk up chocolate with non-cocoa fats and still call it chocolate"
fit2rule 12y ago
Alert: renewable negative, mini-plenty rectify!
enupten 12y ago
It's only "renewable" if you have the environment to grow them in.
- mikeash 12y ago
  It's not like that's going to disappear. It may shift or even shrink, but the possibility of these plants going entirely extinct is roughly zero. The article is written in a fantasy world where neither supply nor demand can be altered. Amusingly, while discussing the problem (farmers are switching to more profitable crops) it also discusses the automatic solution (decreased supply will increase prices which will decrease consumption and increase production).
hcarvalhoalves 12y ago
Renewable in parts. Consider that Theobroma cacao only grows well and healthy in the shade, in the middle of the rainforest, it's natural habitat, which is increasingly rare or protected land. It's also grown by small scale farmers, because it's labour intensive, and they don't know/don't care about managing the forest properly, further increasing deforestation, and endangering the crop itself. Today's practice is to grown it under sunlight, in poor soil, which requires large doses of herbicides and fertilizers, makes it susceptible to diseases and shortens the lifespan of the tree by 1/2. On top of that, prices have been increasing for the past 10 years, but I've only seen the production go down here in Brazil. We went from exporter to importer. The invisible hand of the market is not fixing it either. So you can't assume it's sustainable just because it's not oil.
- kaybe 12y ago
  In Brazil, there are huge problems with the mentionened fungus. The Bahian cocoa industry, once massive, is effectively dead. It's a sad story, really, seeing how it was spread on purpose to better the situation of the workers. And it's a story in caution since it would be really easy to do the same thing to the West African cocoa, no cure has been found yet and the tries so far have ruined the farmers in Bahia. But well, my friends lost their farm anyway..

A more accurate title might be: "world's biggest chocolate-maker tries to prepare customers for higher prices by disingenuously claiming that we will run out of a renewable resource."

huhtenberg 12y ago

Exactly. I distinctly remember how several years ago Mexico manufactured Tequila shortage by claiming that disastrous weather led to a shortage of agave fruit. At least this was a story given by Canadian liquor stores to questions why Tequila prices were hiked by close to 50% almost overnight. I kid you not. They also issued assurances that once this pesky Mexican weather normalizes the prices will go back to normal. You guessed it - they never did.

fosap 12y ago
See the HDD "shortage".
- vertex-four 12y ago
  In that particular case, there was a shortage - it was extremely difficult for even large businesses to get hard drives. The issue was that hard drive manufacturers were (are?) clustered around an area that got flooded.
  - uptown 12y ago
    Or the shortage was caused by the NSA filling their new data-center with as much capacity as it could get its hands on, covertly, and the flood was used as a convenient cover-story for the shortage.
    - Bluestrike2 12y ago
      Maybe the NSA even managed to engineer the flood itself? Yes, that sounds about right.
    - brador 12y ago
      It is a possibility that might have made the situation worse, but there really was a flood and many HDD factories were flooded and closed.
Synaesthesia 12y ago
Agave is still in short supply, that's why most "tequila" is cut with other liquors.

masklinn 12y ago

Also, most likely, "world's biggest chocolate-maker prepares ground for an other round of trying to bulk up chocolate with non-cocoa fats and still call it chocolate"

fit2rule 12y ago

Alert: renewable negative, mini-plenty rectify!

enupten 12y ago

It's only "renewable" if you have the environment to grow them in.

mikeash 12y ago
It's not like that's going to disappear. It may shift or even shrink, but the possibility of these plants going entirely extinct is roughly zero. The article is written in a fantasy world where neither supply nor demand can be altered. Amusingly, while discussing the problem (farmers are switching to more profitable crops) it also discusses the automatic solution (decreased supply will increase prices which will decrease consumption and increase production).

hcarvalhoalves 12y ago

Renewable in parts. Consider that Theobroma cacao only grows well and healthy in the shade, in the middle of the rainforest, it's natural habitat, which is increasingly rare or protected land. It's also grown by small scale farmers, because it's labour intensive, and they don't know/don't care about managing the forest properly, further increasing deforestation, and endangering the crop itself. Today's practice is to grown it under sunlight, in poor soil, which requires large doses of herbicides and fertilizers, makes it susceptible to diseases and shortens the lifespan of the tree by 1/2. On top of that, prices have been increasing for the past 10 years, but I've only seen the production go down here in Brazil. We went from exporter to importer. The invisible hand of the market is not fixing it either. So you can't assume it's sustainable just because it's not oil.

kaybe 12y ago
In Brazil, there are huge problems with the mentionened fungus. The Bahian cocoa industry, once massive, is effectively dead. It's a sad story, really, seeing how it was spread on purpose to better the situation of the workers. And it's a story in caution since it would be really easy to do the same thing to the West African cocoa, no cure has been found yet and the tries so far have ruined the farmers in Bahia. But well, my friends lost their farm anyway..