User blog:Meganhassler/The Cost of the Cone

I scream; You scream; We all scream for ice cream. It is creamy, sweet treat that comes in chocolate, vanilla, mint chip and any other flavor you can imagine. But is there a price too high for this dessert? With rising prices of ice cream, we will find out how much people are willing to pay for a scoop.

The price of a scoop of ice cream has been on the rise. A single scoop now costs over $4 at Toscanini’s, an famous ice cream shop in Cambridge Massachusetts, a $.40 price increase since March. What is causing the price of the beloved scoop to go up?

First, ice cream is made up of milk, cream, sugar, and flavoring. To understand why it costs more it is important to look at the market for some of the ingredients.

The price of dairy is on the rise due to an increase in demand and cost of production. The amount of milk being exported from the United States has increased from about 4 percent ten years ago to fourteen percent now. Not only is there a high demand for dairy but the feed for the dairy cows is more expensive due to the high demand and expanded uses of corn, like ethanol production.

But corn is not the only factor effecting the price of ice cream. The weather has also contributed. With a cyclone in Australia and a drought in Russia and the Ukraine wiping out the sugar beet crops, prices are predicted to continue to go up.

But what would ice cream be without milk and sugar? These ingredients are necessary. As ice cream makers continue to pay the higher price for ingredients so will consumers. So next time you want a cone of Rocky Road how much will you pay? How much is too much?

Source

 * Boston Globe