Ivory Coast will maintain its cocoa farmgate price at 1,200 CFA francs ($2.12) per kilogram for the main harvest season, Agriculture Minister Bruno Nabagne Kone has announced, disappointing farmers who had hoped for an increase.
The government will pay 1,200 CFA francs per kilogram for cocoa that is well fermented, dried and sorted, the same price set in March for the mid-crop season.
“It has been decided that a kilogram of well-fermented, well-dried, well-sorted cocoa will be purchased at the farm gate price of 1,200 francs per kilo,” Kone said.
The decision comes after months of turmoil in Ivory Coast’s cocoa sector, with global prices falling sharply this year after surging to record levels in 2024.
Farmers had expected the government to raise the price following the steep decline in the amount paid to growers.
“We were expecting the farm-gate price to go back up a bit, either to 2,000 or to 1,800; that was the hope. Unfortunately, it’s still stuck at 1,200. Well, they’re the ones who’ve done their calculations. Honestly, it’s a disappointment in a way. But what can we do about it?,” said cocoa grower Thibaut Yoro.
Ivory Coast, the world’s leading cocoa producer, cut its farmgate price by nearly 60 percent in March in an effort to respond to a sales slump that had put pressure on the sector.
The cocoa industry is a major pillar of the Ivorian economy, accounting for about 14 percent of gross domestic product and providing livelihoods for around five million people.
The latest price is a sharp drop from the 2,800 CFA francs per kilogram announced by President Alassane Ouattara in October, shortly before his re-election.
That price was a record high at the time, but the subsequent collapse in global cocoa prices has made Ivorian beans significantly more expensive than prevailing international market prices.
The government is now seeking to balance the interests of cocoa farmers with pressures facing the wider sector as producers grapple with lower international prices and reduced demand.
Source: News Agencies
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