Commodities
Biggest Cocoa Rally in Decades Is Leaving Top Producers Behind
- Prices in Ivory Coast and Ghana are set by governments
- Open-market countries stand to benefit most from higher prices
Cocoa beans in Colombia.
Photographer: Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
A rally that sent cocoa prices to a 46-year high should normally benefit the world’s largest producers. Instead, smaller growers are the ones reaping the rewards.
Prices in Ivory Coast and Ghana, which account for about 60% of global supplies, are set by governments based on sales made a year earlier. That means farmers are getting less money than counterparts in countries like Brazil, Ecuador, Nigeria and Cameroon, where growers profit almost immediately and can make ambitious plans to scale up production.