Ghana Cocoa Buyers Say a Lack of Funds Curbs Bean Purchases
- Purchasers are buying cocoa on credit from producers
- Some buyers stopped taking bean deliveries from farmers
Cocoa beans dry on a table in a village outside of Kumasi, Ghana.
Photographer: Jane Hahn/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Ghana’s industry body for cocoa purchasers said its members are struggling to pay farmers for their crops because the regulator isn’t reimbursing buyers for the delivery of beans.
Purchasers are buying beans on credit from farmers in some instances, while others have stopped taking delivery from growers, which is causing stocks to accumulate on farms, Ayisi Botwe, executive secretary of the Licenced Cocoa Buyers Association, said by phone on Tuesday. The body’s members usually account for about 95 percent of cocoa purchases from farmers in the world’s second-biggest grower of the crop, Botwe said.