St. Valentine’s Day, where lovers across the world will be exchanging gifts, hugs and kisses, is right at our doorstep. However, all those who want to give their loved ones chocolate, will quickly realize that chocolate prices have gone through the roof. Even though it is sweet and trendy to give your loved one a chocolate shaped like a heart, the cocoa prices keep going up, raising chocolate prices across the globe.

The need for black chocolate in Asian, especially Chinese, markets lately has resulted in a meteoric rise of cocoa prices, something which was worsened by dry winds stemming from the Sahara desert towards West Africa and “killed” cocoa plantations.

So, this year, consider giving your loved ones something different, perhaps. Something original.