Cocoa Fungus

Discussion in 'Wall St. News' started by soldsoldsold, May 23, 2011.

  1. "Deadly Fungus Threatens Latin American Cocoa Crop

    By JEAN GUERRERO

    VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico—Cocoa farmers from Brazil to Mexico are scrambling to protect their crops from a potentially devastating fungus that could crimp supplies of the chocolate ingredient.

    Frosty pod rot, spread by spores carried by wind and human contact, is making its way through Latin America, bringing back memories of a blight that devastated Brazil's cocoa industry two decades ago.

    The spread of the disease could add to worries about the supply of cocoa and send futures prices even higher. Futures touched $3,826 a metric ton on IntercontinentalExchange earlier this year when political turmoil in Ivory Coast, which provides one-third of the world's cocoa, threatened global supplies.

    The cocoa bean is native to Latin America, but the nexus of cocoa production shifted to West Africa in the early 1900s as infestations such as frosty pod rot devastated Latin America's cocoa horticulture."


    Was anybody around 20 years ago and remembers the blight? I'll bet the trend will be similar this time around.