Ivory Coast Sells 2023/24 Cocoa With Positive Origin Premium
First time in 3 years
Ivory Coast has started selling cocoa contracts for the 2023/24 season with a non-negative premium industry.
The action happens to be the first of its kind in three years as regulators seek to support farmers.
According to Reuters, Ivory Coast cocoa sector regulator Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC), sold 25,000 tonnes in cocoa export contracts last Friday to global commodities trader Cargill Inc with a positive premium.
This is in accordance with the resolve by the two West African countries in July to no longer sell cocoa with a negative origin differential, as they embark on measures to tackle poverty amongst farmers.
The Cote d’Ivoire – Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI) has since been publishing on a monthly basis the origin premium paid by buyers for cocoa from the two West African countries.
The contracts with Cargill are the first ones sold with the new premium. Prior to that, Ivory Coast raised its origin differential to zero in August from 125 pounds sterling per tonne.
“On Friday we bought 25,000 tonnes with the CCC for the next season (2023/24), showing our commitment to support producer countries in their efforts to offer a decent price to farmers,” a Cargill source said on condition of anonymity.
Sources at the CCC who confirmed the deal also revealed it was the first sale of the 2023/24 season and the first time Ivory Coast has sold cocoa contracts with a non-negative origin differential since the LID was introduced in 2019/2020.
“These first sales of the 2023/24 season reaffirm that the industry has understood our position,” a source from the CCC stated.
He further stated, “for us, there is no longer a question of selling cocoa to multinationals and chocolate makers with a negative origin differential as in the past. That’s over.”
CCC director general, Yves Brahima Kone, is in Rome for a meeting of the European Cocoa Association (ECA), where he will pass on the message to manufacturers, the sources said.
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