On Wednesday, March 4, in Ivory Coast, the price of cocoa paid to producers was set at 1,200 CFA francs per kilo, down from the previous 2,800 CFA francs. A reflection of the global price collapse: since the beginning of 2024, the price of cocoa has fallen by 70% – writes Le Monde.
REDUCTION OF THE PRICE TO FARMERS
The purchase price of cocoa had reached a historic peak, and its collapse is equally historic. In an attempt to curb the crisis affecting the sector since December 2025, Ivory Coast, the world’s leading producer, has cut the purchase price to farmers by more than half, lowering it from 2,800 to 1,200 CFA francs (from 4.30 euros to 1.80 euros) per kilo. The announcement was made on Wednesday, March 4, by the new Minister of Agriculture, Bruno Nabagné Koné, on the occasion of the opening of the intermediate marketing campaign. A shock for Ivorian producers who are already struggling to clear their stocks and get paid for their harvests, in a context of global price decline.
THE SALES CAMPAIGN SCHEDULE
Cocoa prices in the country are set by the State twice a year: in October, for the main sales campaign, and in April, for the intermediate campaign. Both were brought forward by one month due to “early harvests” attributed to the “effects of climate change” and at the request of farmers, in order to allow them to “have resources before the start of the school year to send their children to school,” the minister justified. The price paid to producers is therefore set at 1,200 CFA francs per kilo until August 31.
SPECULATION AND GLOBAL PRICE COLLAPSE
This drop was expected, given that speculation was in full swing in recent days. The record price of 2,800 CFA francs per kilo, announced on October 1, less than a month before the presidential elections, was significantly higher than that practiced on international markets. Since the beginning of 2024, the global price of cocoa has collapsed by 70%. […]
ILLEGAL SALES AND PRODUCERS’ DISCONTENT
However, it will take much more to calm the anger of cocoa farmers who, for four months, have been many selling their surpluses under the table. Completely illegally, but often at a price per kilo higher than that announced by the State on Wednesday. […]
MOLDY STOCKS
Especially since the Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC), the state regulatory body, has only partially kept its promise to repurchase unsold stocks from the main campaign at the old price of 2,800 CFA francs per kilo. After an inventory carried out in January, the State estimated the volume of unsold cocoa beans at 123,000 tons and promised to repurchase 100,000 tons through the trading company Transcao, a subsidiary of the CCC, at an estimated cost of 280 billion CFA francs.
The council then reached an agreement with the Coffee-Cocoa interprofessional agricultural organization for the withdrawal of 40% of this volume, currently blocked in trucks at the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro and within cooperatives. So far, only 12,000 tons of cocoa have been unloaded from ships, announced the organization’s president, Siaka Diakité, on Tuesday. The transfer of another 16,000 tons is still awaiting approval from the CCC. […]
LEGAL ACTIONS AGAINST UNION LEADERS
The only legal actions already initiated concern the presidents of the two main unions: Kanga Koffi, head of the National Association of Coffee and Cocoa Producers, and Moussa Koné. The general director of the CCC, Yves Brahima Koné, has sued the two men for “defamation” and “slander.” He accuses them of estimating, during a press conference held on December 24, 2025, the unsold bean stocks at 700,000 tons, a figure he considers too high, and of denouncing the blockage of dozens of trucks at the two ports.
CRITICISMS OF THE GOVERNMENT’S STRATEGY
The change in the marketing schedule and the price drop hide a simple “rush forward,” warns a cocoa sector specialist who wishes to remain anonymous. “There is no structural change: the intermediate campaign was only brought forward to justify the price drop,” […]
DETERIORATED COCOA AND BAN ON IMPORTS FROM BRAZIL
The icing on the cake, part of the unsold stocks from recent months has deteriorated due to humidity. Mold makes them impossible to market. Since February 23, Brazil has suspended purchases of beans and cocoa-based products from Ivory Coast, citing phytosanitary risks linked to lack of traceability.
COMPARISON WITH GHANA AND THE RISK OF SMUGGLING
The situation does not seem likely to improve, especially since neighboring Ghana, where 50,000 tons of cocoa have accumulated in ports for the same reasons, has set the price paid to producers at 1,850 CFA francs. A differential that should encourage already intense cross-border trafficking.
(Excerpt from the foreign press review by eprcomunicazione)
