Ghana to raise price of cocoa

Ghana  is poised to raise cocoa farmgate prices by 5.2% for the 2019/20 season, the first increase in four years. This  follows  strong sales of export contracts to chocolate makers and cocoa houses,.

The price increase proposed  is 8,000 Ghanaian cedi($1,523.81) per tonne in the season starting in October, from 7,600 cedi per tonne last season, according to  industry body Cocobod and Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) .The price has been unchanged for the past three seasons in Ghana, the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer. Ivory Coast, the biggest producer, will also hike its farmgate price. Ghana’s Producer Price Review Committee which sets the farmgate price meets annually in September to decide a price and the official announcement will be made in early October before the start of the cocoa season. Ghana produced 794,000 tonnes of cocoa this season,  which is 11.7%  lower than the year ago.

Importantly, Ghana and Ivory Coast joined together June to impose a floor price for cocoa of US $2,600 per tonne and a live income differential (LID) of US$400 per tonne. They have  also decided to simultaneously announce  their farmgate prices to plug cocoa smuggling.