On last Monday, cocoa futures climbed to the highest level since 1985 in London, boosted by speculation that supplies from the world's leading producer Ivory Coast may start to dwindle soon as disease is affecting yields there.

London's March cocoa rose about one per cent, to a peak of £2,249 a tonne. It was similar in New York where the benchmark March cocoa contract crept up $2 to finish at $3,378 per tonne, according to the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO).

Cocoa production in the Ivory Coast has been hindered by a severe lack of infrastructure and insufficient efforts to tackle pod disease, which, according to industry experts, limit its readiness to be able to respond to long-term growth in demand for chocolate.

And as the chocolate manufacturing industry struggles to grapple with the rising cocoa prices, Fitch ratings predicts a flurry of M&A activity in the sector with the larger players looking to expand into the emerging markets of India, Russia and China.

Source: ConfectioneryNews.com