Have you noticed that chocolate has become more expensive lately?
“Cocoa harvests have been poor.” “It’s because of climate change.”
You may have heard explanations like these. But what do we find when we look a little further into what is happening behind the price of chocolate?
October 16 is World Food Day. To mark the occasion, let’s take a closer look at a single bar of chocolate and explore how an everyday product is connected to sustainability.
It’s not just about poor cocoa harvests
Global cocoa production is heavily concentrated in West Africa. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana alone account for more than two-thirds of the world’s cocoa supply.
In the 2023/24 season, global cocoa production fell by 13.1% from the previous year. According to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), adverse weather conditions, diseases, and pests affected production in major cocoa-producing countries in West Africa. When production falls, the balance between supply and demand shifts, which can also affect international prices.
But harvest volumes are not the only factor influencing prices.
In Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, for example, governments and public institutions play a role in setting the prices paid to cocoa farmers. Between 2025 and 2026, Ghana raised and subsequently revised its producer prices in response to factors including price differences between the two countries, exchange rates, and fluctuations in international cocoa prices.
Changes in international cocoa prices also do not translate directly into the price of chocolate on store shelves. Before chocolate reaches us, it passes through multiple stages, including processing, distribution, and retail.
Following the price of just one bar of chocolate reveals a web of interconnected factors—from cocoa harvests and global supply and demand to government policies, exchange rates, and distribution.
Looking further reveals our relationship with nature
So, what causes cocoa harvests to change in the first place?
Cocoa depends on natural conditions such as temperature, rainfall, and soil. Changes in weather, as well as the spread of diseases and pests, can affect how much cocoa is produced.
At the same time, cocoa production itself can have an impact on nature. In West Africa, cocoa production has been one of the drivers of deforestation.
In other words, cocoa production both depends on nature and has an impact on it.
The same perspective is important when considering the relationship between business and nature. It is not only about understanding the impacts a company has on nature, but also recognizing how its business depends on nature. In the case of chocolate, the climate and soil needed to grow cocoa are part of the natural foundations that support the business.
Beyond that are the lives of cocoa farmers
Following the supply chain further takes us to the farmers who grow cocoa.
In cocoa-producing countries such as Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, low farmer incomes, child labor, and deforestation have been long-standing challenges. But should we really think of these as separate issues?
Changes in weather can affect harvests, which in turn can affect farmers’ incomes. Changes in pricing policies can influence decisions about where cocoa is sold, and these effects can eventually reach companies through procurement and costs.
Within a company, climate change may be managed as an “environmental” issue, child labor as a “human rights” issue, cocoa prices as a “procurement” issue, and exchange rates and government policies as “business risks.”
Categorizing these issues and addressing them through the appropriate teams is necessary. At the same time, it is equally important not to lose sight of how these issues are interconnected.
Tracing sustainability back to the business itself
Climate change, human rights, biodiversity, circularity—the list of sustainability issues companies are expected to address can seem to keep growing.
When that happens, instead of immediately asking, “What should we address next?”, another approach is to start with your own products and services.
What does this product depend on to exist?
Who makes it possible?
What parts of nature and society is it connected to?
And if any of those conditions changed, what would that mean for your business?
Even a single bar of chocolate reveals connections between climate, forests, farmers’ livelihoods, international prices and policies, and corporate procurement.
Sustainability is not simply about adding one new issue after another to the agenda. By starting with the business itself, what comes into view may not be a set of new challenges, but rather the relationships with nature, people, and society that have always supported the business.
This World Food Day, why not choose one of your own products or services and explore the connections behind it?
Thinking about sustainability through your business
At Neuromagic, we help companies understand the relationships between their business activities, nature, society, and supply chains—from identifying material risks and opportunities to developing strategies and putting them into action.
If your sustainability initiatives are growing but their connection to the business remains unclear, taking a fresh look at the business itself can be a first step toward identifying the sustainability issues that truly matter to your company.
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Note: This article was translated from Japanese using AI. You can read the original Japanese version here.
