The prices of cocoa beans have reached new highs internationally. Two of the main producers, the Ivory Coast and Ghana, are expecting a poor harvest in the spring, citing not only pests and drought but also low purchase prices that make the crop no longer profitable to grow.
The Ivory Coast is the world’s leading producer, accounting for 1.8 million tons in the 2023 crop year, followed by Ghana, Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria and Brazil. Mexico, the origin of the cocoa bean, is no longer a significant player.
One of the challenges in cocoa production is its lack of mechanization. Reports of child labor in cocoa harvesting are common. According to a report by the German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk in 2020, cocoa farmers receive only six percent of the price of a chocolate bar. At the time, it was said that only one in ten farmers in the Ivory Coast can afford fertilizer and many lack the money to pay workers during the harvest season.
Cocoa and cocoa products are the Ivory Coast’s main export and in 2024, the country even had a trade surplus. However, as a former French colony, the Ivory Coast still struggles to break free from the colonial pact, which means that significant revenue is transferred to the old colonial power every year, benefiting the French treasury.
The market structure also plays a crucial role. The real price of cocoa has fallen by 40 percent since the early 1980s, mainly due to increased production and the market power of fewer companies. Additionally, the processing and marketing of chocolate, where most of the profits are made, rarely take place in Africa.
In recent years, the Ivorian economy has been affected by inflation, which was exacerbated by the pandemic and Western sanctions against Russia, leading to higher prices for fuel and fertilizers. Although inflation has since subsided, the delayed effects of this inflation are likely to have contributed to the decline in cocoa production. This is a similar reaction to what was seen in Germany, where fertilizer prices only decreased because many farmers reduced their production. The same phenomenon is observed in Africa, but with a much greater intensity.