THE REAL THREAT FROM EBOLA While much of the Media has been obsessing about the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa and expressing growing concern that the epidemic might spread to America and other parts of the World, they have largely overlooked the REAL threat that the virus poses to mankind. Ebola is threatening much of the world’s chocolate supply. The Ivory Coast is the world’s largest producer of cacao, the raw ingredient in M&Ms, Butterfingers and Snickers Bars. They have shut the borders with Liberia and Guinea, putting a major crimp on the workforce needed to pick the beans that end up in chocolate bars and other treats just as the harvest season begins. Fortunately the world’s chocolate makers have been paying attention to the impending disaster and, unlike the Obama Administration, are taking immediate action. The World Cocoa Foundation is working now to collect large donations from Nestlé, Mars and many of its 113 other members for its Coca Industry Response to Ebola. The initiative hasn’t been publicly unveiled, but the WCF plans to announce details Wednesday, while at its annual meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, on how the money will support Red Cross work to help the infected and halt the spread of Ebola. In the meantime, with the approach of Halloween, the commodities market is worried, too. Prices on cocoa futures jumped from their normal trading range of $2,000 to $2,700 per ton, to as high as $3,400 in September over concerns about the spread of Ebola, “There are still some fears out there,” analysts noted, and stressed new concerns that there may not be enough labor to bring the harvest this year. We can only hope and pray that the efforts of the chocolate industry will be more effective than most of the other efforts to date. .
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 14:17:54 +0000
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