4.

Article :

“Shortage is driving up chocolate prices”

By Fox News
Published November 27, 2016 1:02pm EST

It looks like your Valentine’s Day chocolate is going to cost you more.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that cocoa -- the raw material used to make chocolate
hearts and tarts -- is diminishing due to adverse weather conditions and poor farming techniques.

Combine that with the fact that the demand for the sweet stuff hit an all-time high last year, and the
world has an imbalance that has forced the price of the commodity almost 40 percent since 2012. 
Helping to drive demand are countries like China and India that have disposable income to afford the
treats.

Chocolate makers are warning, once again, that chocolate will be increasingly rare unless something is
done. In 2014, Mars and chocolate giant Barry Callebaut projected a global shortage by 2020 without
industry cooperation.

Now, in an effort to save their trade, companies like Hershey's, Mars and Mondelez, the makers Cadbury
milk bars, are spending about $1 billion to try and reverse the downfall of cocoa farming.  That money is
going to projects that include supporting sustainable farming practices and research.

Lindt, Nestle, and Hershey's have all increased prices as a result of the surge and thanks to the rising
cost of sugar, chocolate prices this Halloween were up 4.2 percent year-over-year, the Journal noted.

Chocolate isn’t the only food item on the ropes.  Unless action is taken, the world can be experiencing
a global coffee shortage in as little as three years.

Source : https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/shortage-is-driving-up-chocolate-prices

Explanation :

If there is a shortage of chocolate supply compared to demand, the price of chocolate will rise.

Cocoa, the basic resource needed to make chocolate, is decreasing in nature due to unfavorable climatic
conditions. The availability of raw materials influences the cost price and the production of chocolate.
When the demand for chocolate exceeds the supply, the price of chocolate will rise. Chocolate demand
is price inelastic, meaning that consumers will buy it even if the price is high.
5. Article

“Gourmet shops’ sales of the most hip chocolate brand are plunging after a scandal”

By Kate Taylor (Insider)

Jan 20, 2016, 6:07 AM

A scandal in the world of hipster chocolate looks like it may have had some serious impact on the brand.

Shop owners selling Mast Brothers chocolate say that sales plunged up to 66% after scandal hit the
company in December, reports New York Magazine's Grub Street. Five out of six retailers contacted by
the food news site reported that sales of the candy dropped this holiday season, compared to the
previous year.

The December debacle was rooted in a blogger’s exposé that alleged that the Mast Brothers, at one
point in time, remelted commercial chocolate to create bars instead of making their own. The four-part
series argued that the brothers had built their brand on a stylish myth and lacked the true transparency
that was necessary as a craft chocolatier.

The Mast brothers have denied these claims, as well as reports that sales have dropped. The company
told Grub Street that sales “held steady” in the three weeks after the scandal broke on December 18,
and that media attention may have actually boosted revenue.

However, independent retailers that spoke with Grub Street told a different story.

The biggest plunge in sales was at Brooklyn gourmet food store Bklyn Larder. Co-owner Sergio
Hernandez said sales dropped 66%, selling $1,700 worth of Mast chocolate bars in the final two weeks
of 2015, compared to $5,000 the previous year.

Other shops, such as Bedford Cheese Shop in Brooklyn and Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco, experienced
decreases between 17 and 47%. At Brooklyn Victory Garden in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, sales remained the
same, but three customers returned bars.

A Mast Brothers spokesperson told Grub Street that these experiences did not reflect sales as a whole.

The retailers that Grub Street contacted were perhaps more likely to attract the hip clientele who would
read and take offense to the fact that, maybe, at one point in time, the chocolate was not bean-to-bar.

Larger retailers that are responsible for more sales and that may have more casual customers, including
Whole Foods and Dean & DeLuca, would not share sales figures with Grub Street. While the scandal may
have made the Mast Brothers unpopular in certain gourmet shops in Brooklyn, the brand's bright and
distinctive wrapping could prove to be enough to convince the average shopper to keep buying the
chocolate.
Explanation :

Scandals in the business world have a negative influence on customers. Such as corporations in the
same business suffer from unfavorable press. The Consumer`s expectaion affects through the issues of
business and it is sometimes strength of the competitors. Their views or perspective in our product
that`s why in planning in putting up a business, uniqueness is the greatest strengh of your product or
service. No one can imitate your product easily to make your customer`s dissatisfied.