For this particular project, the supply and demand for chocolate as well as sugar cane was to be critically evaluated and commented upon. The information that was to be evaluated came from the Commodities Corner from Barrons.com titled Sour Outlook for Sugar Prices and from the Commodities section of the Wall Street Journal titles World’s Sweet Tooth Heats Up Cocoa. The project also calls for an economic report that is to be published in a trade magazine that services the U.S. Market for Non-Chocolate Candy. Throughout the economic analysis and report market equilibrium, identification of the main variables of the articles, interpretation of impact on supply or demand, application to the supply and demand model, as well as the qualitative forecast of price and quantity in the relevant market.
A Depleting Market for Sugar Cane and Cocoa Beans
With the decline in sugar cane prices the world trade outlook for sugar cane also declines. As one can interpolate from Figure 1, the plot of quantity demanded for sugar cane versus the price per pound of sugar cane, the market equilibrium price for sugar is on the decline and has been on the decline for the past couple of years. In fact, raw sugar prices for the month of March declined at 15.22 cents a pound, which is down 7.3% since the turn of the New Year; it is also the lowest level in three and a half years accordingly. With the provided supply and demand curve (Figure 1), gives a projected outlook on supply and demand, as well as projected future prices of sugar and cocoa beans. The Barrons.com Commodities Corner cites a broker at Breitinger & Sons, Walt Breitinger, and in this citation Breitinger predicts that the expected future prices of sugar cane will drop to 14 cents a pound or less. Having an extreme excess in sugar cane, which is to be expected in 2014, the 14 cents per pound is not an unreasonable