![Côte d’Ivoire also announces increase in cocoa rates [World News]](https://foodcom.pl/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Foodcom_World_News_Global-1520x760.jpg "Côte d’Ivoire also announces increase in cocoa rates [World News]")
- Côte d’Ivoire, like Ghana, is raising its cocoa procurement prices for next season.
- The increase will be 20%, slightly beating Ghana’s offer.
- The aim of the increase in farmgate prices is mainly to prevent smuggling and to improve the situation of farmers, who nevertheless believe that the increase should be higher.
- The price of cocoa continues to remain high, which has contributed to higher chocolate prices and reduced demand for chocolate products.
Increase in cocoa prices for farmers in Côte d’Ivoire
Last month, Ghana decided to increase the prices at which cocoa is bought from farmers. Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest cocoa producer, has just announced a similar initiative. Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, the country’s Minister of Agriculture, issued a statement on 30 September raising prices by 20% – from 1,500 to 1,800 CFA francs per kilo of cocoa. The increase is effective from 1 October. The proposed price in terms of conversion is US$ 3060 per tonne, which slightly beats the rate offered by Ghana – US$ 3039. Ivorian producers, however, argue that this is not a big enough increase. According to them, the buying price should be at least CFA 5 000 francs per kilo, which would be 60% of the CIF price – that is, the applicable price at the border of importing countries, which includes insurance and freight.
Why the increases in cocoa buying prices?
Both countries – Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana – are the world’s largest cocoa producers, together supplying about 60% of global cocoa production. Cooperation between the two countries on modulating farm-gate prices is aimed at stabilising the cocoa market, reducing smuggling and illegal exports. Indeed, low cocoa purchase prices as a result of government-controlled price mechanisms have meant that farmers in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have not benefited much from this year’s price increases. Other countries, such as Liberia and Guinea, offer more favourable cocoa buying rates, which has led to the development of smuggling.
It will be recalled that the difficult situation in the cocoa market is due to the third consecutive year of low yields – down by 25% in West Africa – which are caused in particular by adverse weather conditions, disease and a shortage of agricultural inputs. These factors led to record high prices at the start of the season – even over $12,000 – which were not reflected in farmers’ cocoa buying prices. Today, cocoa prices have declined but remain high at just under $8000. The global market is still in deficit, with only a small surplus of cocoa production forecast for next season. However, there has been a gentle increase in cocoa production and exports from Cameroon and Nigeria, an increase in cocoa milling in Europe, and a decrease in demand for increasingly expensive chocolate, which is counteracting the increase in cocoa prices.
