Cacao Genome Cracked: Effect on Chocolate Industries
Posted on: September 23, 2010
"I never met a chocolate I didn't like." - Deanna Troi (Photo by Super Stock)
Supply is defined as that quantity of goods and services that will be supplied to the market at various prices over a given period of time. The law of supply states: assuming that other things being equal, the higher the price, the greater will be the quantity supplied and the lower the price, the less will be the quantity supplied.
One of the most favored treats of the world is chocolate. Large amount of chocolates are consumed worldwide, with the top chocolate loving country, Sweden, consuming 22.36 pounds of chocolate annually. However, fungal diseases have been destroying seed-bearing pods of the cacao tree and wiping out up to 80 percent of the crop. According to the article, “Sequencing of Cacao Genome Will Help U.S. Chocolate Industry, Subsistence Farmers in Tropical Region” in Agricultural Research Service of USDA, scientists worldwide have been searching several years for ways to produce cacao trees that can resist diseases. Finally, ARS researchers cracked the DNA code of cacao trees and figured out specific genes that confer beneficial traits, enabling breeders to produce more healthy cacao trees. This development of technology will lead to shift in supply curve of chocolate industries. Because of the new technology, more cacao trees will be produced. The more cacao trees are produced, the cheaper the cacao ingredient will be. This means that the chocolate industries can purchase more cacao with the same price. This would increase the supply, and therefore the supply curve will shift to the right.
The Supply curve below (Figure 2) clearly depicts the situation of chocolate industries.
(Figure 2) Supply curve of chocolate industries after decoding cacao genome
Consider that a chocolate industry before the decoding of cacao genome as point X. With the price of P, the chocolate industry could produce Q1 quantity of chocolates. However, after the decoding of cacao genome with the new technology (as shown as point Y), the chocolate industry could increase the quantity of chocolate supply from Q1 to Q2 with the same price, P. As seen in Figure 2, with the new technology, chocolate industry could increase the quantity supplied with the same price. In other words, the supply curve of the chocolate industry shifted right: from S1 to S2.
5 Responses to "Cacao Genome Cracked: Effect on Chocolate Industries"
I also found an article for chocolate!! It was different because mine was about the decrease in supply, while yours is about an increase. Which I think is better because everyone likes chocolate. :P
You really explain your diagram well, and the explanation is easy to follow. Good job :)
Well done Evangel, your diagram is accurate and you have correctly identified the cause of the shift in supply.
I can tell you have been listening during class unlike other people in Dr. Anthony’s class! (grr facebook, skype..lol). Your understanding of supply is clear. Plus, this post looks extra special since it’s about “chocolate” =)
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1 | Tomoyo
September 24, 2010 at 12:24 pm
You explained very well the supply curve. Chocolate producing companies would be able to increase its supply to Q2 from Q1 because of the increase in technology. Hopefully that would meet the demands of chocolate and not create a shortage or surplus.