Chocolate Report: History, Production, Price Analysis, and Trends

This report provides a comprehensive overview of chocolate, starting with its historical origins in Mesoamerica and tracing its evolution through various civilizations. It details the modern chocolate-making process, from cacao tree cultivation to the production of various chocolate products. The report includes a product price and taste comparison, analyzing different chocolate brands. It further explores global cocoa production and consumption patterns, highlighting key producing and consuming countries. The report also examines long-term trends in cocoa prices and discusses the top cocoa-importing countries. Finally, it summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the significance of labor costs in the cocoa business and the dominance of Western European countries in chocolate consumption.

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Table of Contents
Question 1...................................................................................................................................................2
Question 1a)............................................................................................................................................2
Question 1b)............................................................................................................................................2
Question 2:..................................................................................................................................................3
Question 5:..................................................................................................................................................5
Question 6:..................................................................................................................................................5
Question 7:..................................................................................................................................................6
Question 8:..................................................................................................................................................6
Question 9:..................................................................................................................................................7
Question 10:................................................................................................................................................7
Question 11:................................................................................................................................................8
Question 12:................................................................................................................................................8
Question 13:................................................................................................................................................8
References...................................................................................................................................................9

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Question 1
Question 1a)
 Mesoamerica was the first place where the journey of chocolate began in 450BC.
 The fermented drinks were made from the chocolate at that time.
 The ancient Maya and Aztec civilization of Mesoamerica believed that the cacao seeds
are the ‘food of god’.
 The Maya civilization made chocolate drinks from roasted cocoa beans.
 In the sixteenth century, chocolate came to Europe where chocolate drinks were made
with the addition of sugar.
 In the twentieth century, chocolate was considered as the essential food elements for the
United States soldiers during the war.
 In the early Victorian time, chocolates were eaten as the solid eaten form.
 Cadbury was the first product of modern chocolate that gained the attention of the
community (Chocolate-history.co.uk, 2019)
Question 1b)
Modern chocolate is made through 8 steps. These are:
 A mixed temperature (hot, rain, and shades) is important to cultivate the cacao trees.
 The ripening cacao pods are harvested typically twice a year.
 After chopping the pods are opened to release the seeds. These seeds are called beans
which are allowed to grow until the pulps are visible.
 The pulps are then separated for further flavor development and beans are cleaned by
hands and exposed to the sun until it becomes purple in color.

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 Purple color beans are ready to be fermented. The fermentation process is done by
covering with banana leaves for 2-9 days until the color and taste of chocolate are
observed.
 The next step is drying for 7-14 days and after that, they are packed to ship to the
international markets.
 Cocoa liquor is prepared by the processor after it is reached to them. Shells are separated
and nibs are used for processing under the high pressure. Products are cocoa powder.
 Various types of chocolates are produced after that (Lakechamplainchocolates.com,
2019).
Question 2:
Product Price comparison Taste
Nestle Violet Crumble
Woolworths $4 per 100
grams
3/5
Sweet taste with honeycomb
flavor.
Sometimes burned sugar flavor.
Liviano Milk Chocolate
Hazelnut
ALDI $1.33 per 100 grams 5/5
Great taste
Woolworths $2.73 per 100
grams
3/5
Sugar content is high. Sweet taste. The

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Caramello Dairy
Milk
cocoa flavor is less.
Boost
Woolworths $2.50 per 100
grams
4/5
Nice caramel flavor
Activity 2:

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Question 5:
Ivory coast
Ghana
Ecuador
Cameron
Nigeria
Indonesia
Brazil
Rest of Africa
Rest of Latin America
Rest of Asia
Europe
US
Rest of Asia
Rest of America
Brazil
Japan
Africa
China
Australia
India
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
2000
900
270 255 250 220 165
618
317
88
1852
732
351 333 189 176 154 82 76 46
Cocoa production/consumption (tonnes)Production
Consumption
Fig: the relative production and consumption of Cocoa globally (Voicenetwork.eu, 2018)
Question 6:
Top 7 Chocolate producers (Voicenetwork.eu, 2018):
1. Ivory coast
2. Ghana
3. Nigeria
4. Cameron
5. Ecuador
6. Peru

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7. Indonesia
Question 7:
Top 7 chocolate consumers (Forbes.com, 2019):
1. Switzerland
2. Germany
3. United Kingdom
4. Ireland
5. Norway
6. Sweden
7. Australia
Question 8:
The long term trends of cacao prices were constantly going downwards. The real prices were
highest in the year of 1977. After that decreasing trends were observed. In 2012 a slight
increment in prices was observed. The decreasing trends are observed due to the shortage of
labors in the highest cocoa-producing countries. This problem can be sorted out through the
increment of the payment of the farmers and labor (Voicenetwork.eu, 2018).

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Question 9:
Top5 Cocoa importing countries:
United States
Germany
France
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Question 10:
The highest cocoa-producing countries are mainly situated in the Latin American belts where
Ghana and Ivory Coast stands for the highest production zone. The light brown color indicates
the highest cocoa-producing countries(Make Chocolate Fair!, 2019).

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Question 11:
The United States is considered as the highest cocoa import country. The US and other cocoa
importing countries are colored with mid-brown(cocoa beans, 2019).
Question 12:
The western European countries are considered as the highest chocolate consuming countries and
they are highlighted with the dark brown colorForbes.com, 2019).
Question 13:
From the overall discussion, it can be concluded that:
 Cocoa was first discovered by Aztec and Maya civilization on 450BC and since then
cocoa has continued its journey with the completion of the various stages.
 Ivory Coast stands first in cocoa production. Most of the Latin American countries are
considered as the highest cocoa production area. Indonesia also makes its place within the
top seven production countries.
 The United States has imported the highest amount of cocoa. The US makes the highest
number of varieties in chocolates and other cocoa products to export them in European
countries.
 The West European countries are considered as the highest cocoa consuming belts.
 The long term trends of cocoa prices are going downwards due to the shortage of labor
and farmers. Thus it is important to increase the labor cost to increase the cocoa business
globally.

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References
cocoa beans. (2019). Imports & Exports. [online] Available at:
https://taylahrichchocolate.weebly.com/imports--exports.html [Accessed 10 Aug. 2019].
Forbes.com. (2019). The World's Biggest Chocolate Consumers [Infographic]. [online]
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2015/07/22/the-worlds-biggest-
chocolate-consumers-infographic/#7307b1bf4484 [Accessed 10 Aug. 2019].
Make Chocolate Fair!. (2019). Cocoa production in a nutshell. [online] Available at:
https://makechocolatefair.org/issues/cocoa-production-nutshell [Accessed 10 Aug. 2019].
Voicenetwork.eu. (2018). [online] Available at:
https://www.voicenetwork.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2018-Cocoa-Barometer.pdf
[Accessed 10 Aug. 2019].
Chocolate-history.co.uk. (2019). Chocolate History - Christopher Columbus. [online] Available
at: http://www.chocolate-history.co.uk/index.htm [Accessed 10 Aug. 2019].
Lakechamplainchocolates.com. (2019). How is Chocolate Made & What is It Made Of?. [online]
Available at: https://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/making-chocolate [Accessed 11 Aug.
2019].