cocoa - The African Mirror

Oct

2023

Farmers plant more cocoa outside Africa as prices rally

SCHMIDT Agricola is a large agricultural company producing soybeans, corn and cotton in Bahia, Brazil, one of the country's new-frontier agricultural areas fit for large-scale, high-tech farming. It recently added a new crop to its fields: cocoa. Production of the chocolate-making ingredient is expanding outside of the main growing area in West Africa as farmers in places such as Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia see potential profit in the crop. The rally in prices to the highest level in nearly 50 years is boosting that trend, which could alleviate the current supply tightness in the global cocoa market. It also poses…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Ivory Coast entrepreneur pours love and patriotism into fine chocolate

NEWS

IT was love at first sight for Viviane Kouame when, as a teenager growing up in Ivory Coast, she first saw cocoa trees with ripe pods on their trunks that reminded her of babies clinging to their mothers' backs. She decided cocoa would be a part of her life, and in 2021 she set up her own company, Chocovi, to make and sell chocolate. "I want to be the face of Ivorian chocolate," said Kouame, a rare female entrepreneur in a male-dominated industry. Ivory Coast is the world's top producer of cocoa beans, but the vast majority are exported and…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Ivory Coast to lift suspension of Hershey cocoa sustainability scheme

BUSINESS

ANGE ABOA IVORY Coast will lift a suspension on cocoa sustainability schemes run by U.S.-based Hershey on its territory that it imposed earlier this week, according to a letter addressed to the chocolate maker and seen by Reuters. On Monday, Ivorian and Ghanaian cocoa regulators suspended the schemes, accusing Hershey of sourcing large volumes of physical cocoa on the ICE futures exchange to avoid paying a premium aimed at combating farmer poverty, known as a living income differential (LID). Hershey, makers of such popular candy items as Hershey chocolate bars, Hershey's Kisses and Kit Kat, said it was fully participating…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Ghana, Ivory Coast threaten to suspend cocoa companies’ sustainability schemes

BUSINESS

MAYTAAL ANGEL and ANGE ABOA GHANA’S cocoa regulator has threatened to suspend the sustainability schemes used by major cocoa and chocolate companies to assure consumers that the beans they use are sustainably and ethically sourced. In comments to the World Cocoa Foundation conference on behalf of Ghana and its West African neighbour Ivory Coast, Joseph Aidoo, chief executive of Ghanaian regulator Cocobod said on Thursday that cocoa and chocolate companies in West Africa were thwarting government attempts to combat farmer poverty. As a result, their sustainability schemes, which allow companies such as Barry Callebaut and Nestle to charge consumers a…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s unrest chokes cocoa shipments

BUSINESS

CHIJIOKOE OHUOCHA NIGERIAN protests against police brutality, coupled with curfews to quell unrest, have drastically slowed cocoa shipments to the Lagos port, adding to problems for farmers grappling with falling prices, an industry body said. Nigeria, the world's fifth biggest cocoa grower, had barely recovered from the impact of lockdowns to curb the novel coronavirus when violence sparked by the protests erupted last month, forcing several states to restrict movement. The president of the cocoa association, Mufutau Abolarinwa, told Reuters the combination of curfews and traffic gridlock meant it could take up to 30 days for containers to travel within…