Ivory Coast raises cocoa farmgate price by 9%

Ivory Coast has raised the fixed farmgate price paid to cocoa farmers by over 9% to 900 CFA francs ($1.33) per kilogramme from 825 CFA francs for the main crop of the 2022/2023 season starting on Oct. 1, Vice-President Tiemoko Meyliet Kone said on Friday.

The farmgate price for coffee was raised to 750 CFA francs per kilogramme from 700 CFA francs, he added.

The global cocoa market recorded a supply deficit in the 2021/2022 season, which ends on Sept. 30, largely due to strong winds and lack of rain in the world’s top two producers Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Harmattan – dry, strong winds that blow from the Sahara to West Africa – have been intense this year and negatively impacted tree canopy.

Fertilizer shortages linked to the war in Ukraine as well as an economic crisis in Ghana could further hamper production next season.