Attn Chocoholics: The World's Largest Chocolate Fair Is Coming to Brazil

It's just been announced that the largest international chocolate fair and exposition, the Salon do Chocolat, will be held for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere in 2012, specifically in the Brazilian city of Salvador, Bahia.

The Salon, which held its first edition in Paris in 1995 has since been hosted by cities such as New York, Shanghai, Madrid, Beijing, Lille, Bologna, Marseille and Cairo. But it's never been held in a country and region which produces cacau, the bean from which chocolate is produced. Salvador is the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia - the largest producer of cacau in Brazil and one of the most important cacau-growing regions in the world. The Brazilian cacau-growing industry is currently growing rapidly and recovering from the effects of a devastating disease which affected large number of cacau trees in the 1980s.

Brazil is also one of the world's largest chocolate-consuming nations, and its passion for chocolate in all its forms borders at time on obsession. The most prestigious Europeans brands of chocolate, such as Valrhona and Godiva, have recently entered the Brazilian marketplace where they have had exceptional success.

Previous editions of the Salon do Chocolat have welcomed up to 20,000 visitors per day, and the government of Bahia, which is one of the event's sponsors, expects that the Salon will have a tremendous impact on Salvador's 2012 visitor numbers.

The Salon is scheduled for the first week in July, 2012. Chocoholics, mark your calendars.