“The Theobroma cacao tree originated in the upper Amazon basin region (Brazil, Colombia, and Peru). Today, cacao is grown by 40-50 million cocoa farmers in more than 50 countries around the world. 90% of the world’s cocoa is grown on small family farms, while only 5% is grown on larger commercial plantations. For the majority of these farmers, cacao is their primary source of income. Many make less than $1USD a day for their hard work growing and harvesting cacao — so supporting sustainable farming practices and fair trade chocolate is more important than ever!”
“IN ITS PRIME. A young cacao tree grows rapidly, but it won’t begin to produce beans until it’s about five years old. A cacao tree can live up to 100 years, but most trees only provide marketable cacao beans for about 25 years”
"Cacao trees grow in a limited geographical zone, of about 20° to the north and south of the Equator. Nearly 70% of the world crop today is grown in West Africa.
Despite its popularity with the world cocoa lacks the profit margins for growers to actually invest in their plants health so the current weather fluctuations and disease are limiting supply. Will they recover? Probably. if not the current growers then new ones will emerge but all of this leads to uncertainty. I am looking at hershey earnings 5-3-2024 for its guidance not performance. Even if they meet or exceed expectations and the stock goes up there will be note of the current issues that could lead to a drop post earnings.
](https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/global-research/commodities/cocoa-prices!%5Bimage%5D(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1233521726319624233/1233523917692338217/Screenshot_20240426_170327_Chrome.jpg?ex=662d682b&is=662c16ab&hm=ec8136fd902bbfc8b0df5aa1f479a20f2edcb19f59897120a3910818c7a3f1bb&)){kind=link}