Defaults and Poor Data, Cocoa Audit Shows Top Grower's Woes
- Too much production, defaults cost Ivory Coast $333 million
- Firm linked to first lady’s son got 40% of international deals
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Ivory Coast’s cocoa regulator failed to prevent a crisis that sent prices plummeting last season, according to an audit of the world’s top producer by KPMG LLP.
Offering a rare glimpse into the workings of an opaque industry, KPMG shows how flaws in the West African nation’s sales system had a “catalyst effect” on the industry’s woes, according to a copy of the audit commissioned by the government and obtained by Bloomberg. The crisis cost the country at least 185 billion CFA Francs ($333 million) in lost income, KPMG said.