Ivory Coast to Keep Cocoa Output In Check Under New Price Plan
- Top cocoa grower to maintain output at about 2 million tons
- Industry regulator to exert more control over new plantations
Workers harvest cocoa fruit from trees on a cocoa plantation in Agboville, Ivory Coast.
Photographer: Jose Cendon/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Ivory Coast’s cocoa regulator said it will seek to maintain output of the beans at current levels even as the country and neighboring Ghana plan to boost farmers’ income by raising prices.
The world’s two biggest cocoa producers are looking to jointly introduce a premium of $400 a ton, the so-called living-income differential, in an effort to exert more control in cocoa markets. While the countries want to put the plan in place for sales from the 2020-21 season, many traders and analysts are skeptical it will work and have criticized the idea for increasing incentives for farmers to expand production.