Arrows up or down: The harmattan (dry wind) _______ the supply of cocoa from West Africa and _______ the world price of cocoa. (Related to Application 5)

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Application 5 THE HARMATTAN AND THE PRICE OF CHOCOLATE APPLYING THE CONCEPTS #5: How does a change in supply affect the equilibrium price? Every year around harvest time for the cocoa crop in West Africa, the harmattan, a dry dusty wind from the Sahara desert, sweeps through cocoa plantations in Ghana and Ivory Coast, drying the pods and reducing yields. In 2015, the harmattan was longer than usual (14 days compared to the usual 5 days), so crop yields were lower than usual. The decrease in supply from the long harmattan was one factor in the large increase in the world price of cocoa prices in 2015. Related to Exercises 5.8 and 5.15. SOURCES: (1) Stephanie Strom, "Valentine's Day Chocolate Will Cost More This Year, As Cocoa Prices Rise," New York Times, February 11, 2015. (2) Olivier Mon- nier, Baudelaire Mieu, and Ekow Dontoh, "Cocoa Farms Crave Rain As West Africa Winds Blast Bean Pods," BloombergBusiness, February 5, 2015.