In March 2011, when most commodity markets were moving towards highs, the price of cocoa futures on the Intercontinental Exchange rose to an all-time peak of $3826 per ton. Each quarter, the world adds approximately twenty million people to the global population. Over the past nine years, the addressable market for the primary ingredient in chocolate confectionery products rose by over $700 million. At the same time, dietary changes in China, the world's most populous nation with 1.4 billion citizens, have caused the demand for chocolate and cocoa products to experience explosive growth.
Since reaching