The price of cocoa, the main chocolate-making ingredient, rose to its highest level in 46 years on Nov 28 on the Intercontinental Exchange, a leading global provider of data, technology and market infrastructure, in New York, reported Reuters. It reached 4,219 dollars (more than 30,000 yuan) a ton. The main reason for the surge (激增) in prices is the extreme weather conditions and crop diseases in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana in Africa, which together account for two-thirds of the global cocoa bean output, reported Bloomberg News. As a result, the world’s cocoa production has been dropping sharply. According to data from the Cote d’Ivoire government, Cote d’Ivoire farmers shipped 348,560 tons of cocoa from Oct 1 to Nov 12, 25.3 percent lower than in the same period last year.