Cost of making chocolate up this Valentine's: B.C. chocolatiers

The cost of making chocolate has gone up — but that's not enough to cool demand this Valentine's Day, some B.C. chocolatiers say.

"We're up 34 per cent on our cost of goods for chocolate over last year," said Trent Derrick, owner of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Prince George, about 517 kilometres north of Vancouver.

It's the same for Daniel Terry, co-founder of the Denman Island Chocolate Company based off the coast of Vancouver Island.

Terry said global cocoa prices have roughly doubled over the past year, pushing him to plan for a price increase on his products in the coming months.

"No one wants to pay more for anything," he said.

"But the definition of staying in business is you're making money."

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Gregor Craigie spoke with Daniel Terry, the co-founder of the Denman Island Chocolate Company.

The primary cause, Terry said, is the rise in cocoa futures prices — the world benchmark for the global cocoa market — which largely sets the price of cocoa worldwide based on anticipated supply and demand.

Those prices hit record highs last Thursday following lowered crop production in West African nations such as the Ivory Coast, which produces almost half of the world's supply of the raw ingredient used in chocolate bars.

"This is kind of an across-the-board price," Terry explained, so even chocolatiers like him, who don't use cocoa from Africa, are impacted.

"This is going to drive prices for every single manufacturer."

Derrick said aside from the cost of cocoa, inflation is also increasing the price of other ingredients, like sugar and nuts used in his creations.

But rising prices aren't cooling consumer demand, he said — at least not when it comes to Valentine's Day, which he says is the busiest time of year for his business.

"We do about the same amount of sales during Christmas over the [course of] 30 days in just two days [during Valentine's]," he said.

The lines get especially busier as the day ends, with buyers clambering to the chocolate factory to make last-minute purchases for their significant other.

"At around five or six [in the evening], there are quite a few people that forget it's Valentine's Day and they'll come in."