NEW YORK: Prices for cocoa on ICE exchange in New York, the United States' benchmark for the chocolate-making ingredient, rose to the highest ever on Wednesday, surpassing the previous peak set in 1977, amid a global scarcity of the agricultural commodity.

The all-time price peak for cocoa in the U.S. happens just a few days before Valentine's Day celebration on Feb. 12, one of the hottest chocolate buying periods in the country, when many people exchange sweets, flowers or cards with loved ones.

New York cocoa prices rose 3.6% on Wednesday to $5,410 a metric ton. London cocoa futures also hit a record high, gaining 2.4% on the day to 4,344 pounds per ton.

New York cocoa had gained 61% in 2023 and is up 29% so far this year as a result of falling output in Africa due to unfavourable weather.

Higher raw material costs eventually reach final products. According to NIQ, a company that tracks consumer buying behaviour, chocolate prices at groceries in the U.S. rose 11% at the end of January, compared with a year earlier, and unit sales fell 5%.

"For Valentine's Day shoppers specifically, these (price) spikes may be sending them in a different direction for expressing their affection, such as opting for homemade gifts, or experiences instead of tangible goods," said Carman Allison, VP of Global Thought Leadership at NIQ.

LSEG soft commodities researcher Daniel Pereira said the relationship between raw cocoa prices and retail prices of a milk chocolate bar, for example, is not linear.

"Brands can choose to temporarily live with lower profits to keep their market position," he said, adding that existing stocks bought in the past when prices for cocoa were lower can also delay retail price hikes for chocolate.

Wednesday's surge in cocoa prices happened after news from Ghana, the world's second largest grower, of a 35% annual drop in the amount of cocoa arrivals at export warehouses in the country.

Brokers said reports from Ghana, as well as from No. 1 producer Ivory Coast, of lower arrivals are leading the market to a much larger supply deficit (the difference between production and demand) than previously expected.

In other soft commodities, raw sugar gained 1.4% at 23.88 cents per lb, while refined sugar rose 0.7% at $656.50 a ton.

Arabica coffee settled up 1.5% at $1.8785 per lb, while robusta coffee gained 0.6% at $3,115 a ton.

(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira and Nigel Hunt; additional reporting by Maytaal Angel; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar, Sharon Singleton and Anil D'Silva)