Should we pay more for chocolate?
6 Minute English
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 12 March 2026
⏱️ 6 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How often do you eat chocolate? It's one of the most loved sweet treats in Europe, but a new EU law could make chocolate more expensive. A business owner, who has small cocoa farms in these places, shares their thoughts and concerns about the new law. We also hear from chocolate lovers about whether they would pay more for their favourite chocolate, and about whether they looked at where their chocolate was produced. Neil and Becca discuss this and teach you some new vocabulary.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Are you scared of speaking English? You're not alone. I am Hanan and I'm Georgie and our new series beating speaking anxiety helps you fight your fears of speaking English. |
| 0:18.0 | Hear from learners and experts and get practical advice about how to improve your speaking skills. |
| 0:24.5 | Find beating speaking anxiety on our website, BBClearningEnglish.com. |
| 0:31.0 | Six Minute English from BBC learningenglish.com. |
| 0:37.9 | Hello, this is Six Minute English from BBC Learning English.com. Hello, this is six-minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil. |
| 0:42.4 | And I'm Becca. How many of our listeners, Neil, do you think love chocolate? |
| 0:47.6 | Well, I can't think of anyone who doesn't love chocolate. I know I certainly do. |
| 0:52.5 | Yes, I thought you might say that, having seen |
| 0:55.2 | your mid-morning snack most days. That's true. I do love a bit of dark chocolate. Do you know, |
| 1:00.5 | I really like the one that's got some chili in it. What's your favourite, Becca? Oh, I also love |
| 1:06.2 | dark chocolate, but chili's a bit spicy for me. I like it with sea salt. That's also good. But now to the stuff that makes chocolate possible. Coco, a key ingredient |
| 1:17.3 | and it's become more expensive in recent years. Now a new EU law could make chocolate even more |
| 1:24.3 | expensive. Today we'll talk about how this law could change things for farmers, |
| 1:28.7 | companies and chocolate lovers, as discussed on the recent BBC World Service programme, Business |
| 1:33.7 | Daily. As always, we'll learn some useful new words and phrases, and you'll find all the vocabulary |
| 1:39.4 | along with the transcript on our website, BBClearningEnglish.com. Before we get started, Neil, I have a question for you. |
| 1:47.4 | Europeans are big fans of chocolate, just like us. |
| 1:51.2 | Around how many tonnes of cocoa beans were imported to Europe in 2023? |
| 1:56.2 | Was it A, 500,000 tonnes? |
| 1:59.9 | B, 2 million tonnes? or C, 10 million tonnes? |
| 2:04.3 | Well, I have no idea, but I'm just going to guess and say 500,000 tonnes. |
| 2:09.8 | We'll find out if you're right later on. |
... |
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