Ivory Coast increases prices for cocoa growers – Raw Materials Analysis

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Today 4:05 pm -Alex Jurvillier

Last Monday during Easter, the American cocoa price rose steadily to $10,120 per tonne. For the London Listing, this remained the same at £8,276 per tonne for the Easter weekend until Monday. The pressure on the sector remains high, but could perhaps decrease somewhat for Ivorian cocoa growers. Ivory Coast announces a 50% price increase for Ivorian cocoa growers.

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After the psychological limit had been passed, the American price fell slightly again yesterday to $9,949 per tonne. The London quotation rose to £8,384 per tonne. For comparison: a year ago the price in America was $2,868 per tonne and the price in London was £2,138 per tonne.

Price increase for Ivorian growers announced
The Ivorian government and the agency Conseil du Café Cacao (CCC), which regulates the cocoa trade, have jointly announced that the cocoa price received by Ivorian cocoa growers will be increased. This will increase by 50%, from 1,000 to 1,500 Central African Francs per kilo (about $2.46). This is reported by the Ghanaian Cocoapost. The increase applies to the just-started growing season that runs from April to September 2024. Reuters previously wrote that insiders reported that Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara wanted to increase the price for cocoa growers. The president judged that the situation on the world market is exceptional and wanted an exceptional response.

According to experts, the price increase is crucial, given the large loss of cocoa beans that are smuggled to neighboring Guinea, writes Cocoapost. Ivory Coast and Ghana, together the world’s largest cocoa producers, are seeing a large decrease in cocoa beans delivered to their ports, partly due to unfavorable weather, plant diseases and therefore smuggling.

The International Cocoa Organization previously wrote that high cocoa prices remain a major concern due to a shortage of supply from key producers such as Ivory Coast and Ghana. This has led to a 28% and 35% decline in revenues at Ivorian and Ghanaian ports, compared to the previous season.

Previously, the Ivorian Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC) indicated that a price increase was not possible. That now appears to be happening. Bloomberg news agency writes that these higher payments also encourage investments in cultivation. The higher prices probably also mean more supply, as growers now often hold on to supply in the hope of better prices, Reuters writes.

Poverty
The higher prices for growers are also desperately needed. Yuca Waarts of Wageningen University & Research speaks to NOS about the situation of cocoa farmers: “Because they cannot make investments due to their persistent poverty, they have been harvesting little cocoa for some time. And climate change is now on top of that.”

Waarts indicates at NOS that every increase helps, but that does not immediately mean that it will lift farmers out of poverty: “There is enormous inflation in Ghana and Ivory Coast, which is causing them to fall even deeper into poverty. The question is how they get there.” Hatch.”