May cocoa bean futures fell to $8,850 a tonne in Tuesday trading, the lowest since March 21, according to ICE Futures data.
The cost of the raw material was below $9,000 for the last time on March 22.
The most active contract in New York fell as much as 17% to $8,800 a tonne, the largest intraday drop on record since 1960.
Overall, futures are down more than 20% from the record high reached on April 19 after more than doubling this year.
Cocoa has become cheaper because traders are closing deals due to high margin requirements and because Nigeria has increased cocoa exports, the media revealed.
The cash crunch is also reportedly forcing traders to delay purchases of beans from the world's largest producers, putting pressure on the cocoa market.
In early February, the price of a tonne of cocoa beans rose to $5,000 for the first time since 1977. By mid-March, prices had doubled since the end of last year, and by the end of March, they had reached $10,000 for the first time in history.
The price of cocoa beans, which has been rising steadily for the past two years, reached unprecedented highs in March, surpassing the $10,000 per tonne mark for the first time in history and increasing 2.4 times since the beginning of the year.
The International Cocoa Organization reported in January that the two-year global cocoa bean deficit will continue into 2024, while shipping difficulties in the Red Sea will support the current trend of rising prices for the commodity.
The increase in cocoa prices is also due to low yields in West Africa, where approximately 70% of the world's cocoa is grown. The low yields are caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, an above-average sea surface temperature in the Pacific Ocean that affects global climate conditions, causing higher temperatures and heavy rainfall in the region.