Ivory Coast sets cocoa price at record high

The purchase price of cocoa from farmers in Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer, was set at 1,800 CFA francs (2.7 euros) per kilo, a record amount after a year when world prices reached record highs. , but received a mixed reception from some producers. “The government has decided an increase of 20%,” declared Minister of Agriculture Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani during a ceremony in Abidjan. In April, the purchase price for the intermediate harvest – which lasted until September – was set at 1,500 CFA francs (2.2 euros), an already historic amount. In 2023, the price was 1,000 CFA francs (1.5 euros) per kilo.

Advance sale

Ivory Coast sells its cocoa beans in advance and the purchase price is set by the State. It is therefore less sensitive to market fluctuations – upwards and downwards – than in other pays like Cameroon, a more modest producer, where the system is liberalized. Ivorian cocoa represents 45% of world production (more than 2 million tonnes) and accounts for 14% of the GDP of this West African country.

In Ghana, a neighboring country and the second largest producer in the world where the price East also decided by the State, the authorities also set the price around 1,800 CFA francs in mid-September, an increase of 45% in the price of beans for the 2024/2025 season, in particular to fight against smuggling.

World cocoa prices have soared over a year, exceeding at the start of the year THE 10,000 dollars per ton, in New York. In London, the price for delivery in September 2024 increased by around 170% year-on-year. The cause in particular is a drop in global cocoa production, due in Ivory Coast and Ghana to unfavorable climatic conditions affecting harvests.

« Question of working conditions »

“The price was not what we, the planters, wanted, we expected 2,000 francs (3 euros)” because “today, life is expensive”, reacted Monday September 30 Kouadio Gadou N’Da, producer in Yamoussoukro. “We are satisfied, but it is mixed satisfaction,” said of his side Thibeaut Yoro, general secretary and spokesperson for the agricultural union center of Côte d’Ivoire. The price of cocoa was, according to him, decided at the same level as Ghana to “protect” the neighboring country. “It’s not a question of numbers,” he said, but of “working conditions.” He wish improved roads to transport beans and sell them more easily, as well as better social protection.

Cocoa and coffee producers will, however, benefit free of charge from universal health coverage (CMU), paid for by the Coffee-Cocoa Council, an organization responsible for regulating these two sectors, Kobenan added. Kouassi Adjoumani. The minister also announced an increase in the purchase price of coffee, set at 1,500 CFA francs (2.2 euros), compared to 900 francs (1.3 euros) last year.

In Ivory Coast, cocoa represents around 1 million jobs and supports 5 million people, according to the government.

(With AFP)