Ivory Coast Said to Fear Losing Fifth of Cocoa to Smuggling
- World’s no. 1 producer cut farmer payments after prices fell
- Neighboring Ghana decides against reducing producer pay
People work at a cocoa sorting center.
Photographer: SIA KAMBOU/AFP via Getty ImagesIvory Coast’s cocoa regulator forecast the nation may lose a fifth of its cocoa crop to smuggling during the next harvest if neighboring Ghana refuses to cut payments to farmers after international prices fell, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The prediction by Le Conseil du Cafe-Cacao comes after the world’s biggest cocoa producer cut farmers’ pay by 36 percent to the equivalent of about 700,000 CFA francs ($1,251) per metric ton in April to cope with global prices that dropped more than a third in a year on expectations of oversupply. Ghana, the second-biggest grower, has kept farmer payments at the equivalent of 7,600 cedis ($1,708) per ton since October and has ruled out any cuts for the main harvest that starts next month. Cocoa is harvested twice a year in West Africa.