Chocoholics: You have seven years to find a new fix.

According to a report from Great Britain, the world will exhaust its chocolate supply on Oct. 2, 2020.

Sian Hewitt of the Daily Star covered a recent event of industry experts, who came to a consensus that "there are just not enough cocoa plantations across the globe to feed the demand."

They also had another revelation: We'd need the equivalent of another Earth to "fill the gap needed to keep the chocolate industry going."

Apparently, entire cocoa plantations are being switched over to produce rubber, which gets a better yield, or other crops.

I suspect there are two scenarios that could possibly play out in the near future. Either the chocolate industry finds some type of "filler" substance to include in its products, thereby easing the pressure on the cocoa plantations (and keeping the cocoa bean price more or less steady), or the price of cocoa beans skyrockets, to the point that normal people can't afford it.

Hundreds of years ago, chocolate was not the mass-produced commodity it is today. Back then, anything with chocolate in it was highly expensive, and only the rich got to enjoy the decadent treat.

Think for a moment about your daily intake of chocolate. Many people have it for breakfast in one way, shape or form. Chocolate-flavored cereals are among the best selling brands.

It's included in many fancy coffee drinks, and I'd really miss my hot chocolate, which I can pick up at a convenience store for under $2.

I can't even imagine a world without a chocolate dessert. No cakes, pies, mousse, souffles or muffins.

Like pretty much every other commodity, the rising living standards in China have put pressure on the chocolate industry, as billions of Chinese develop a taste for sweet, milk-chocolatey goodness. Some studies show the growth rate of chocolate consumption in China at 9 percent, and some show that India's growth is nearer to 15 percent.

Maybe plantations will wise up, once the price of cocoa goes up, and reverse the trend. Will it be enough to stem the tide and take the cocoa bean off the endangered species list? The jury is out on that one.

According to a recent study by the group Business Case Studies in England, 700,000 tons of chocolate are imported to the U.S. from Africa a year, while England brings in 215,000 tons. The site also says that Africa (mainly West Africa), provides 70 percent of the world's chocolate.

The article goes on to explain the supply-and-demand of chocolate (cocoa bean) production, and states that thousands of farmers would be willing to grow cocoa beans exclusively, if the profit was there.

I'm guessing the price of chocolate will move upward soon, and/or many of our favorite products will just replace a portion of their chocolate with other ingredients, such as sugar. I don't see the demand for chocolate dropping by any significant amount any time soon.

And since chocolate doesn't keep well, it's kind of hard to stock up, even though I'm sure some will try. A world without chocolate would be unimaginable to true chocoholics.

Who knows? Maybe one day carob will be all the rage, although I hope not.

Excuse me - I gotta go read up on how to grow cocoa beans.

You can attempt to reach Jerry Hitchcock at 664-8176, Ext. 2017, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at HitchTheWriter.