Chocolate lovers beware! The price of your favorite treat is on the rise.

Growing demand in emerging markets and bad weather in major cocoa producing countries is pushing up the cost of key ingredients, leaving manufacturers little choice but to pass on some of that pain to consumers.

The price of cocoa butter, for example, stands at a four-year high, having risen by 70% over the past 12 months, according to Mintec commodity consultant Liliana Gonzalez.

And the production cost of an average milk chocolate bar has surged by 25% over the same period, she wrote in a report for British trade magazine The Grocer.

"If manufacturers are bearing an increased cost over an extended period of time, it's no surprise they'll have to pass that cost along," said Peter Greweling, an artisan chocolatier and professor of baking and pastry arts at the Culinary Institute of America.

Read - Paying more for chocolate? You will be

Previously:
The bitter truth behind the chocolate in your Easter basket
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