If you love chocolate, brace yourself as prices spike. You may have to pay more for chocolate this Valentine's Day because of a global cocoa shortage. The cost of chocolate is up a reported 20-percent this year because of record-high cocoa prices. Cocoa is a key ingredient in chocolate and is harvested mostly in west Africa, where cocoa crops have been hit hard recently by climate change and disease, causing prices to skyrocket. Chocolate makers are passing on those costs to shoppers.