--- title: Soaring Cocoa Prices Could Make Chocolate an Expensive Luxury Item description: The sweet treat could soon become more of a high-end luxury item canonical: https://time.com/66674/chocolate-prices-soaring/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-17T16:08:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:08:54.253Z og:title: Chocolate Is About to Get Much More Pricey og:description: The sweet treat could soon become more of a high-end luxury item og:url: https://time.com/66674/chocolate-prices-soaring/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd410419e545dc80f/69868b1855a85968f2a805be/476900833.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4260 og:image:height: 2396 og:image:alt: Chocolate Stack og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chocolate Is About to Get Much More Pricey twitter:description: The sweet treat could soon become more of a high-end luxury item twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd410419e545dc80f/69868b1855a85968f2a805be/476900833.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Chocolate Prices Are Soaring, So Just to Be Safe, Everybody Should Probably Panic > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Apr 17, 2014 4:08 PM UTC  Chocolate Stack Chocolate StackGetty Images by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Apr 17, 2014 4:08 PM UTC Alright, chocoholics, listen up. (Everyone who just really loves chocolate but would never call themselves “chocoholics” should also listen up.) Here’s the deal: cocoa prices are surging, which means chocolate is poised to become more of a high-end luxury item, NBC News [reports](http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/chocolates-soaring-price-could-make-it-champagne-n82821). If costs continue soaring, chocolate could become “like champagne,” says Edward George, head of soft commodities at Ecobank. “Something which is a luxury, but not all of us can afford.” Last year, prices rose 20 percent, and so far this year, cocoa futures are up 10 percent, largely due to demand from emerging markets. In China, for example, chocolate consumption has tripled over the last four years. We all should have kept quieter about how delicious it is so it could have remained our little secret! “If prices go up too much (chocolate makers) shift to substitutes and instead of cocoa butter, which gives that melt-in-the-mouth flavor, you can use palm oil, or even cotton seed oil,” George told NBC News. But, like, no. We would like chocolate to maintain its melt-in-the-mouth qualities but also remain affordable. 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