Ghana and Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producers, are boycotting World Cocoa Foundation meetings on cocoa sustainability this Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels (October 26 and 27).
Authorities in both West African countries accuse multinational chocolate companies and traders of obstructing measures to increase the incomes of cocoa farmers.
The grievances of Ghana and Ivory Coast concern the Living Income Differential (LID), which is set at $400 per tonne and charged on top of world prices.
The LID was implemented in 2019 to guarantee cocoa farmers a minimum price, thereby increasing farmers’ incomes, many of whom are impoverished.
But commodity traders set a negative differential for the two nations at 260 dollars per tonne.
- Increasing the price of cocoa by 21% is an insult, according to COCOBOD.
- New cocoa price for 2022/2023 season will be announced next week
In July 2022 a further decision was taken to no longer sell their cocoa with negative country differentials.
Both countries account for about two-thirds of global cocoa production, but farmers in those countries earn less than 6% of revenues in a chocolate industry valued at more than $100 billion a year.
Arguing that farmers have always been given a raw deal when it comes to pricing, four civil society organizations in Ghana and Ivory Coast have thrown their weight behind the boycott.
The World Cocoa Foundation, a group representing 80% of the global market, says its 2022 meetings are to discuss steps to improve farmer pay, combat child labor and end deforestation linked to cultivation of the crop.
