Odessa chocolate company says cacao bean prices have climbed amid global instability

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - Maribea says the price of cacao beans has increased by as much as $10 compared to previous prices, with global instability and ongoing supply concerns driving up the cost of one of the business's most important ingredient [First Alert 7]

ODESSA — An Odessa-based chocolate business is grappling with substantially higher procurement costs as cacao bean prices have surged in recent months.

Maribea, a local chocolate maker, has seen the expense of raw cacao climb by as much as $10 per unit compared to what the company paid previously. The sharp increase stems from worldwide economic uncertainty and constraints on the availability of cacao in international markets, making one of the company's core ingredients considerably more expensive to obtain.

Despite facing these elevated expenses, the business has made efforts to shield customers from the full financial impact of the price increases. Mark Merritt, who owns Maribea, explained that the company intentionally purchases cacao from several different geographical sources, a strategy that allows the operation to access beans with varying taste profiles while also shopping for more favorable pricing.

"We purchase it from different areas cause it all has different flavors and we like those different flavors," Merritt said. He added that after identifying cacao sources that produce flavors the company values, the operation then evaluates whether those beans can be acquired at prices that customers will accept.

The company continues to track shifts in the cacao market closely and remains cautious about future price movements. Merritt indicated that Maribea is hopeful that the challenges affecting global cacao supplies will ease in the coming months, potentially providing some relief to the business and other chocolate manufacturers nationwide.