This is not how things normally go in the cocoa market. For much of the past decade

the price of cocoa in one key global benchmark hovered around $2,500 per metric ton. 

Last year, after poor harvests in West Africa, the price began to creep up — rising to $4,200 a ton by December, 

Then the financial speculators began to pile in — betting prices would rise further. They pushed the price above $6,000 a ton in February, 

$9,000 a ton in March and $11,000 a ton in mid-April. Since then, the price has swung wildly, 

falling nearly 30 percent in just two weeks before bouncing up again. By Thursday, the price was $8,699 a ton 

But big buyers, like Hershey and Mondelez, and commodity traders buy and sell cocoa on global exchanges