This meeting has become possible because the two major cocoa producing countries only get US$6 billion annually in the US$100 billion-dollar chocolate industry.
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Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire organise a historic meeting with cocoa buyers in Accra to discuss floor price
Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire will begin a two-day meeting in Accra with stakeholders in the cocoa industry worldwide to discuss proposals of setting a minimum price for the cocoa bean produced by the two countries.
Farmers break cocoa pods in Ghana's eastern cocoa town of Akim Akooko September 6, 2012. REUTERS/Kwasi Kpodo
In 2018, the two countries which produce about 60% of the world’s cocoa needs put out plans to coordinate cocoa production and marketing as a way of exerting more control in the market after price volatilities in recent years.
A tonne of cocoa, according to the International Cocoa Organisation, is being sold in excess of US$2,390 on the world market. The goal of the two-day meeting is to discuss the possibility of agreeing to a minimum price which is enough to keep the cocoa farmer in business.
According to Cocobod it always takes the hit when the price of cocoa goes down on the world market since it is unable to push the price drop to the cocoa farmers. Hence, its collaboration with Cote D’Ivoire to agree to a floor price will not only safeguard the farmers’ investment but the interest of the two countries.
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Besides discussing the minimum price for cocoa beans, other issues expected to come up in the two-day meeting will include the use of child labour on farms, deforestation, among others.
Another meeting in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, on the same issue is expected to be held on June 18-19, 2019.
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