Chocolate-lovers could be in for a shock as the price of cocoa looks set to soar amid weather warnings in the key cultivation centre of West Africa.
The world's top region for growing cocoa has experienced such dry conditions this year that crop production has been hindered.
The lack of rain is expected to trigger a cocoa shortfall in the global market going into 2013, meaning the cost of chocolate could rocket.
On top of that experts have forecast El Nino, a weather phenomenon which would mean a warmer, drier winter in West Africa.
Jonathan Parkman, joint head of agriculture at broker Marex Spectron explained: "If we have normal weather we should expect a small surplus but actually, it doesn't look like we're going to get normal weather this year, the main reason for that being the development of El Nino."
According to a recent poll by Reuters, there could be a 40,000 tonne global cocoa shortage in 2012 to 2013.
A group of analysts and traders predicted that the Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, would see its output drop to 1.35m tonnes- that compares to the International Cocoa Organisation's figure of 1.41m tonnes for the previous year.
They also said the next largest producer, Ghana, would likely see a fall in production of up to 40,000 tonnes.
However, the warnings follow two good years for cocoa production and some say there is nothing to be concerned about.
An analyst at a European commodities trade house said: "The outlook remains for a crop being slightly below average in Ivory Coast and a bit more troublesome in Ghana.
"A sub-trend crop is normal considering we just came out of two very good years."
The analyst added: "The current dryness in Ivory Coast, which seems to have caught the attention of a few people, is insignificant in the context of how much stock we have in Europe and the US right now."
Despite this, trading on the Liffe Cocoa prices hit a nine-month high on Friday, with dealers citing concerns about the weather in West Africa.
