Lots More on the Parabolic Surge in Cocoa Prices

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.

Joe Weisenthal (0:10)

Hi Javier.

Javier Blas (0:11)

Hey, how are you guys?

Joe Weisenthal (0:12)

We're good. How are you?

Javier Blas (0:14)

Not bad. I'm not complaining.

But you know, olive oil prices are high, chocolate prices are high, I mean.

Joe Weisenthal (0:21)

You're in demand.

Javier Blas (0:22)

Oh well, I may be in demand, but certainly I'm just going to be ruined at this rate.

Joe Weisenthal (0:28)

Sorry. What's happening with olive oil prices?

Javier Blas (0:30)

They have come down about 10%. I mean, we are at the peak of the, the crop has just arrived, so it's normal that the prices come down a bit. And demand is starting to react. I mean, it's just bloody expensive.

Tracy Alloway (0:43)

This is like Javier's personal CPI basket, right? Olive oil, oil and cocoa.

Javier Blas (0:49)

In mind, the weighting of those two items on my personal CPI basket is just cocoa and olive oil, probably is 140% of it.

Joe Weisenthal (1:00)

I did a deadlift. One, two, three.

Tracy Alloway (1:02)

Hegemony.

Hegemony. Barges.

Joe Weisenthal (1:07)

This is an after school special, except.

Tracy Alloway (1:09)

I've decided I'm going to base my entire personality going forward on campaigning for a strategic pork reserve in the US.

Joe Weisenthal (1:15)

Where's the best squid ink pasta?

Tracy Alloway (1:16)

These are the important questions. Is it robots taking over the world?

Joe Weisenthal (1:19)

No, I think that like in a couple of years, the AI will do a really good job of making the Odd Lots podcast.

And people will think, I don't really need to listen to Joe and Tracy anymore. We do have.

Tracy Alloway (1:31)

Cha-ching.

Joe Weisenthal (1:35)

Welcome to Lots More, where we catch up with friends about what's going on right now.

Tracy Alloway (1:39)

Because even when Odd Lots is over, there's always lots more.

Joe Weisenthal (1:43)

And we really do have the perfect guest.

Tracy, do you have opinions on chocolate? Do you have favorite chocolates? I don't know. I've never asked. I've never heard you. Actually, I have.

I'm expecting a long list of exotic flavors and names and brands.

Tracy Alloway (1:58)

Are you ready for my TED Talk?

Joe Weisenthal (2:00)

Yes.

Tracy Alloway (2:00)

Well, you see, when people ask if you have a favorite chocolate, I feel like you have to divide that into different price baskets, actually. So my favorite cheap chocolate is actually, and this is controversial, I really like Hershey's.

Joe Weisenthal (2:12)

Oh, interesting.

Tracy Alloway (2:12)

I actually think, like, there is a cheap tasting chocolate that is actually wonderful, and it tastes cheap, but it's still great, and that's Hershey's. And then my, like, mid-range is probably Milka, which I feel like I have to say as a half Austrian person, although that company is Swiss and I think it's produced out of Germany now. And then expensive chocolate, I like all of the Swiss ones, basically. There's that Swiss chocolate store that's right under our office.

Joe Weisenthal (2:40)

Yeah, what's your view on that?

Tracy Alloway (2:41)

It's really good, but, oh my god, I went in there to buy a present for my husband for Valentine's Day and I grabbed, like, a little candy chocolate heart thing and I was like, oh, okay, I'll just leave without looking at the price. How bad can it be? And I got to the register, $37, and that was in February, so it's probably worse now.

Joe Weisenthal (3:01)

Yes, so as most people know by now, cocoa prices have soared and when there's a commodity soaring, we talk with our colleague, Javier Blas. Javier, do you have a favorite chocolate?

Javier Blas (3:14)

I grew up in Spain, basically, with Nothilla, which is the Spanish kind of brand of Nutella. And yes, yes, yes, I know that that's a lot of milk and sugar and hazelnuts, but I still I will buy a jar of the Spanish Nutella and I will not do a spread over bread. I will just get a spoon, a big spoon, and then just eat it. And five minutes later, the Nutella is over and I'm unhappy. And within 30 seconds, the guilt will come. But for about 30 seconds, I am the happiest guy in this planet.

Tracy Alloway (3:49)

Eating Nutella with a spoon is one of those underrated joys in life, I think.

So, we've seen this massive run up in recent weeks, which has caused comparisons to NVIDIA of all things. So, chocolate outperforming NVIDIA lately, which is kind of ridiculous because one of those things powers the collective brain power of the economy, and the other thing is just semiconductors.