Climbing cocoa costs making chocolate more expensive

With costs climbing in producing chocolate, lovers of the sweet treat will need to pay more to get their fix — or, look to sharing a bar with others.

With drier El Niño conditions in West Africa, a key region for growing cocoa, a smaller harvest this year has bumped the ingredient's price to a four-decade high on commodity markets.

But cocoa is not climbing alone — almost every ingredient used to produce chocolatey goodness is seeing a price hike, including sugar, milk, raspberries, and even chilli.

Jarden head of commodities Nigel Brunel told 1News that chocolate aficionados may need to look to splitting a bar of chocolate, rather than keeping it to themselves.

"We could see elevated prices in the coca market for some time and that has a big impact definitely on the dark chocolate side," he said.

Caroline Everitt of Devonport Chocolates, an Auckland business that handmakes cocoa-based desserts, said the shortages may force the company to reluctantly raise their prices.

"Our profits get smaller [with higher ingredient costs] and there isn't, to be honest, a big profit in the first place," she said.

"It's not something that we do lightly, and it's not something we want to do at all."