They are inseparable from Easter celebrations.
Each year, several million tons of chocolates are sold on the occasion of the most important Christian holiday.
After Christmas, it is the most important time of year for the sector, with Easter accounting for around 10% of the category's annual sales.
If the French want to remain faithful to the tradition of chocolates at Easter this year, they will undoubtedly have to put their hands in their wallets.
The global price of cocoa has seen a sharp rise in recent months, with an increase of 162% between Easter 2023 and Easter 2024, according to trading and investment platform eToro.
The cause of this inflation is global warming.
While the majority of chocolate is made from cocoa grown in West Africa, the extreme drought conditions that have affected this region in recent weeks and months have greatly impacted harvests.
El Niño largely responsible
“There have been several reports from farmers in Ivory Coast which indicate that the heat has weakened the cocoa crop,” notes Izidine Pinto, climatologist from the University of Cape Town quoted by the BBC.
He said high temperatures increase the rate of evaporation and leave crops with too little moisture.
If the El Niño meteorological phenomenon is largely responsible for this intense heat, it is also associated with other meteorological upheavals such as episodes of drought and accentuated rain.
Also read: Why is the “chocolate war” raging between Italians and Swiss?
In certain cocoa-producing African countries such as Ghana and Ivory Coast, the drought was recently interrupted by a particularly intense rainy season, causing serious damage.
These humid conditions allowed a fungal infection called swollen shoot virus to proliferate and rot the cocoa beans on the trees.
Disastrous climatic events which directly caused the price of cocoa to triple in one year, and by two in the last three months.
Lindt announces 5% increase
If chocolatiers generally buy their beans in advance and will therefore sell this year the cocoa harvested last year before these extreme weather phenomena, many of them are getting ahead of the price increase and already cover by increasing their prices.
At the beginning of March, Swiss chocolatier Lindt announced a 5% price increase for its products in 2024, a year after increasing them by more than 10%.
But for Gilles Rouvière, general secretary of the Chocolate Union interviewed by RMC, there is no doubt, the chocolatiers will do their best to keep the chocolate.
“The increase in the price of chocolate is quite less compared to that of cocoa.
For an average chicken purchased in a supermarket, the increase will be on average 10 cents,” reassures the specialist.