The Ebola crisis in West Africa has helped push cocoa prices up by 10 percent since August to more than £1,000 ($1,617) per tonne, and this despite rising production.

Fifty-seven percent of surveyed chief procurement officers (CPOs) said short-term cost reduction is a higher priority than long-term growth in 2014, according to a new survey by Consero Group, which specializes in creating high-level, invitation-only events for senior executives. The results were reported as part of the 2014 Procurement & Strategic Sourcing Data Survey, compiled by Consero Group.

The cost of food products that chain restaurants use will increase overall by 2 percent in 2014, according to the newly released purchasing cost outlook by SpenDifference LLC, the chain-restaurant purchasing cooperative.