The face of chocolate is about to change drastically, world-wide.
As you may have heard there are price wars between major chocolate companies and producers in Peru and elsewhere. These major companies can no longer get what they need from Africa where cacao is cheap because slave and child labor are used. In addition, they didn’t pay the farmers enough for proper forest management and now the trees are old, diseased and not producing. Maybe this is a good thing for those farmers because world-wide attention is being brought to their situation. Hopefully, it will be rectified properly.
In the meantime, these companies have gone over to the fair-trade and organic markets, which is where we have always worked with in Peru. But those farmers who have had fair-trade, and were not controlled politically or by cartels, are well educated in their industry. Not only from traditions that have been passed down, but from universities and keeping up on world news and the commodities market daily. Good for them that they are standing up for themselves and pushing back. And so, the price wars have begun.
However, you and I are caught in the crossfire and both of us are stuck paying the price. We were taken by surprise when we went to place our usual order for our cacao and found prices had gone up 250% !! As I write this, I am still aghast. I struggle to wrap my brain around it and my heart hurts (And my blood pressure is up). It still rings in my ears what our supplier said to me… ”the situation is dire.”
Chocolate will never be the same. But we will.
We vow to never compromise our quality.
We absolutely believe that our suppliers should take a stand for themselves and not allow their industry to be overtaken by these bullies. And, we are working to not be pushed out of the market, either. We know we have a quality product and we will stand our ground to provide that same quality product that we have for over 10 years. We are encouraged by remembering all the phone calls and emails over the years of people saying “Yours is the only chocolate I will buy”. They tell us they feel the difference, or about their children with allergies, or who need to be on the GAPS diet, diabetics and cancer fighters, let alone those who can’t have soy, dairy, or gluten. Although our motto is 'Snack Responsibly', we have always known Good Stuff Cacao is far more than a 'healthy snack' -- it is a superfood. Moving forward we will be focusing on the health benefits of pure cacao. There will be nefarious players, so please, watch ingredient lists. Because there will be another pandemic, a focus Good Stuff Cacao will take is toward building your immune system. More on that in the future.
I hope this has informed you to help you understand ‘the why’. Unfortunately, prices will go up again. However, many in the market are also predicting the prices will drop- who is to say when, though. We are hoping the jumps will be far smaller and praying prices will drop soon. Some say it may be years, as a new cacao tree takes 5 years to produce the beans, it will be a while for Africa to recover.
As stated earlier, our company will be focused on education on the human immune system, detoxing naturally, and choosing health over convenience. Thank you for your understanding, patience and cooperation. We will work to keep you informed through our subscriber list and articles on our website, be sure to sign up if you haven’t already.
Read more about these changes in this article from foodnavigator.com.
Please send us your comments, suggestions and testimonies, we appreciate them all.
Sincerely,
Barbara
Good Stuff Cacao founder/owner