TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The 2014 Easter could be the most expensive celebration compared with its previous years. The reason is because the celebration coincided with increased prices of world chocolate to a number of percentages. As a result, the costs to provide sweets and Easter eggs have skyrocketed.

A report that was released by Euromonitor International Ltd states that it was caused by increased demands for chocolate in the last three years. Chocolate supplies fromWest Africaand a number of other countries may have decreased. Since March 2014, the price of cocoa beans, a chocolate ingredient, is at its peak for the last 30 months.

The ICE Futures exchange in New York estimated in end of December 2014 that cocoa price to reach US$3.210 per metric ton – highest figure since July 2011. The price has increased by 6.3 percent compared with in mid April 2014 that reached US$3.039 per metric ton.

Increase in chocolate prices could also be felt in England. According to Lucy Armstrong, sweets producer from Chichester city, the price of 10 kilogram packaged chocolate has increased by 18 percent to US$98 or approximately Rp1,120,000. As a result, she was forced to increase the price of Easter eggs by 50 percent prior to the celebration that takes place on April 20, 2014.

FERY FIRMANSYAH