Managing Director of Cocoa Marketing Company Ghana Limited, Dr Wisdom Kofi Dogbey
The Cocoa Marketing Company Ghana Limited, led by its managing director Dr Wisdom Kofi Dogbey, is embarking on an audacious mission of elevating Ghana’s Cocoa sector through increased local bean processing.
CMC is the commercial arm of Ghana’s cocoa sector, acting on behalf of the Ghana Cocoa Board.
Its core responsibility is to market and sell Ghana’s cocoa beans on the international market, generating the export earnings that sustain the sector and the broader national economy.
CMC sits at the heart of the cocoa value chain. Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) purchase cocoa from farmers at the producer price and CMC receives, markets and sells those beans globally.
The revenue generated from these sales determines the gross Free on Board (FOB) price, from which farmers receive 70 percent.
This means CMC’s commercial performance directly supports farmer income, foreign exchange earnings, and the overall stability of the sector.
CMC trades cocoa using a combination of forward and spot sales, benchmarked against the London cocoa futures market.
The balance between forward and spot sales depends on global supply and demand conditions, market price trends, and the sector’s financing requirements. Forward sales are used to secure favourable prices and provide revenue certainty, especially in volatile market conditions.
They also support crop financing arrangements, as confirmed export contracts provide assurance to lending institutions.
For the current crop season, CMC had already contracted approximately 90 percent of projected volumes during the period of historically high cocoa prices, before the recent correction in global markets.
This early contracting strategy has provided a significant buffer against the subsequent decline in prices and softer demand conditions.
Importantly, Ghana’s pricing mechanism is based on the weighted average of total seasonal sales, not on isolated spot prices at any given moment.
As a result, the significant proportion of sales concluded at higher levels means that the final gross FOB outcome for the season remains commercially sound.
Project Elevate, a flagship initiative of the MD of CMC Dr. Wisdom Dogbey, is a strategic initiative developed ahead of current global market challenges to reposition Ghana within the cocoa value chain.
It is designed to move the country beyond predominantly exporting raw cocoa beans and toward capturing greater value through increased local processing. The project aligns directly with the Government’s policy objective of achieving at least 50 percent local processing of national cocoa production.
Under Project Elevate, cocoa beans will be allocated to selected domestic processors for conversion into semi-finished products such as cocoa liquor and cocoa butter.
These products generate higher value per tonne compared to raw bean exports and offer stronger long-term revenue potential for the country.
CPC and WAMCO have been identified as key partners under this initiative. The Government holds equity interest in both companies, making them strategic national assets within the cocoa sector.
Both facilities currently operate below their installed processing capacity, meaning processing volumes can be increased immediately using existing infrastructure without the need for significant new capital investment. Private processing companies will also have significant roles to play in operationalizing this government policy.
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