Russia can start growing cocoa beans, expert says

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MOSCOW, February 3 The rise in prices for cocoa beans in the world from a global perspective opens up the opportunity for Russia to grow fruits on its territories, the presenter said expert of the working group FoodNet (Foodnet) NTI, economist Alexey Kuk.
On the eve of Friday, the exchange value of a ton of cocoa beans exceeded 5 thousand dollars, which happened for the first time since 1977.

«»As a FoodNet market expert, I can say that such trends, combined with the course taken towards technological sovereignty, open up for us a rather unexpected opportunity to launch the production of our own cocoa beans (and not only them) based on industrial farming technologies. Today we already have all the technological the groundwork for turning regions with excess heat and CO2 generation into unique “oases” that are independent of climate and fully provide themselves and their neighbors with any plant products,” Cook said.
He added that “this way we could simultaneously solve the problems of climate and food security, since the challenge with cocoa beans is certainly not the last and certainly not the only one.”

“It’s really just a matter of bringing the technology to fruition and launching our own production of equipment, which, by the way, would provide additional advantages in terms of ensuring technological sovereignty, since industrial farming requires high-tech equipment, communications and a large number of different software products. This industry could be used as a growth catalyst no worse than BAS. Therefore, we have answers to these challenges in Russia, the only question is whether we will manage to implement them on time,» the specialist added.
At the same time, Cook said that “any shortage is an opportunity for new players to enter the market.” “Especially if these players are supported by a major partner, in this case an interested consumer represented by someone from developed countries. So don’t be surprised if after some time new brands of cocoa bean producers appear in the world, and from countries , which were not traditionally associated with cocoa,” the specialist believes.
He adds that “this is, of course, a long-term story, since the deployment of such production is a process that will take about 10 years under the most favorable conditions.”
“Therefore, in the short term, we are likely to face both an increase in prices and a reduction in the range of chocolate products, combined with the appearance of more substitutes,” Cook concluded.