cocoa beans - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

Ivory Coast seizes 100 tons of cocoa at the border with Guinea

IVORY Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC) has helped the national police to seize three trucks loaded with 1,500 bags of cocoa beans on the border with Guinea, the regulator's managing director said. Low farmgate prices compared with neighbouring countries have made the West African nation, the world's top producer of the main ingredient in chocolate, a target for smugglers from neighbouring Liberia and Guinea where beans fetch higher prices. A kilogram of cocoa currently costs between 1,600 CFA francs and 1,700 CFA francs ($2.63-$2.80) in Guinea and Liberia due to the rise in global prices, according to cooperatives and…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Chocolate makers trace more cocoa beans to ensure ethical sourcing

BUSINESS

MAYTAAL ANGEL CHOCOLATE and cocoa companies are tracing where more of their cocoa beans come from, as pressure mounts on them to buy beans from growers who are not linked to deforestation or human rights abuses, data from the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) shows. The industry group said companies can now trace or locate the origin of 74% of the beans in their direct supply chain in top cocoa producer Ivory Coast, and 82% of their directly sourced beans in No. 2 producer Ghana. Directly sourced cocoa accounts for about half the beans that cocoa and chocolate companies source, while…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

How ethical are your Valentine’s Day chocolates?

NEWS

MATTHEW LAVIETES WITH sales set for a Valentine's Day boost, chocolate lovers and romantics concerned about ethical sourcing can take some heart from a new report. Leading chocolate makers have faced intense scrutiny over how they source their cocoa beans in recent years, and U.S.-based nonprofit Forest Trends said they are making progress to tackle human rights abuses like child labour and deforestation. But despite their efforts, much more remains to be done, from disclosing their results to cracking down on suppliers found to be falling short. Here's a look at how the world's largest chocolate makers are striving for…