Côte d’Ivoire raises cocoa prices above Ghana
The country’s agriculture minister, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, announced in Abidjan on Monday that the farmgate price will increase by 20% from 1,500 CFA francs to 1,800 CFA francs per kilogram, effective October 1, 2024.
This price, equivalent to $3,060 per ton, slightly surpasses the $3,039 per ton offered by Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer.
The increase is intended to curb smuggling of Ivorian cocoa to Ghana, but illegal exports to countries like Liberia and Guinea, where buyers offer prices closer to the global market, remain a concern.
Last season, adverse weather, disease, and limited access to farming inputs slashed cocoa output across West Africa, pushing cocoa futures to record highs of over $11,000 per ton.
Global market remains in deficit
Although prices have since fallen to around $7,700 per ton in New York, the global market remains in deficit for the third consecutive year. Analysts predict only a modest surplus in the upcoming season, around 90,000 tons.
Despite the global price surge, farmers in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana have not fully benefited due to government-controlled pricing mechanisms. These systems limit investment in farms and encourage smuggling to countries with less regulated, higher prices, reports Bloomberg.
Ghana contributes roughly 20% of the world’s cocoa, and together, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire account for around 60% of global supply. Ghana's annual cocoa production averages 800,000 tons, peaking at 1.047 million tons in the 2020/2021 season, according to Statista.
However, climate change-induced weather disruptions have affected both nations’ cocoa sectors for the past three seasons, severely impacting output and causing concern within the chocolate industry as well as raising fears about the future of chocolate manufacturing and the livelihoods of cocoa farmers.
