Why chocolate prices are likely to skyrocket soon

According to Food & Wine, cocoa prices are at a 47-year high. What caused this? Inflation plays a part, but the bigger issue at hand is that cocoa cultivation in both Africa, specifically Ghana and the Ivory Coast, and Ecuador has reportedly become much more complicated due to drier weather patterns and rainfall changes. In addition, there was a shortage of cocoa “due to that unfavorable weather coupled with crop disease and smuggling” in Ghana; the smuggling is thought to have accounted for approximately 600 million in lost revenue as per the Agence France-Presse (AFP).