We're running out of chocolate, we're eating more than is being produced, says world's biggest confectionary firm

They are words which will strike fear into every addict - we're running out of chocolate.

That's according to the world's largest confectionary producer, which has joined Mars in warning of a massive shortfall which could reach a million tonnes a year by 2020.

Switzerland's Barry Callebaut Group said soaring demand have helped chocolate prices hit more than double what they were just eight years ago.

The supplier, which provides chocolate for firms from global giants to artisan bakers, has revealed it sold 1.7million tonnes in 2013/14 - a rise of 11.7 per cent on the year before.

But there are limited quantities of the fragile crop - which means as production rises, so does the price.

That leaves manufacturers with little choice but to raise prices on the shelves, make bars smaller or pack them with fruit, nuts and wafers.

Industry experts say the world is in its longest production shortfall for five decades.

Cocoa prices rose by a quarter in a year to a peak in August of £2,000 a tonne, nearing a February 2011 peak, Barry Callebaut said.

• 
  

Dream job? A quality control technician tests a sample from a giant vat of chocolate in a factory

Source: 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2836785/We-running-chocolate-says-world-s-biggest-confectionary-producer.html