Cocoa trade will leave bitter taste in the mouth of chocoholics

I understood from comments on a Radio 4 interview that cocoa contributes < 5% to the cost of a consumer bar of 'Chocolate'?

Seems unlikely that even a doubling of raw material costs will in itself be a major factor in the price on supermarket shelves.

I've never heard of Armajaro before but a quick search on the internet produced the following ...

http://www.international-adviser.com/article/armajaro-launches-commodity-hedge-fund

To quote the article, "Armajaro Asset Management is launching its fourth Cayman Island-domiciled commodity hedge fund for the institutional offshore market.".

Presumably, being domiciled in the Cayman Islands avoids paying domestic taxes. Assuming the price of cocoa rises, then the profit from this trade will come from the real economy and the domestic industries that consume cocoa as a raw material. The issue I have is that this profit is not then taxed domestically? In effect, money has been taken out of the real economy?

Well I worked in West Africa for 30 years first growing cocoa in theCameroon then later overseeing 2.6 million acers of small holder cocoa base in Ghana and also monitored the cocoa growing areas in Cote d'Ivoire,Nigeria and Togo.

I know, or did know Anthony Ward very well, I will never forget his first trip out to W.Africa having been sent there by his father ( then owner of trading company, Cocoa Merchants) to have a look for the first time at a cocoa tree! Well, to cut a long story short, on returning to Accra from his first up-country trek he stopped on the hills just North of Accra and saw huge black rain clouds over Ashanti (then one of the major cocoa growing regions) phoned his father back in London and said buy, buy, buy the cocoa crop will suffer this year because of Black Pod (a fungal disease of the cocoa pod) and the crop will be well below that estimated! Being a novice to the agricultural side of cocoa, he was actually talking throufgh his hat. Anyway Dad took this on board and bought thousands of tonnes of cocoa on the Futures market.Of course the price of cocoa beans rocketed up and Cocoa Merchants and young Anthony Ward made lots and lots of de money!

People have always made money from betting on shortages - but this adds not a penny to the real economy or benefits the population at large. Its just a greed thing. Turner was right to condemn the city attitude as self-serving and destructive.

Just ask a cancer consultant how keen is is on the price of cocoa!

Disgusting greed. Cornering the market and making obcene profits while African growers and chocolate factory workers work their hands to the one. for a pittance. Long live unfettered capitalism.

Disgusting greed. Cornering the market and making obcene profits while African growers and chocolate factory workers work their hands to the one. for a pittance. Long live unfettered capitalism.