Ghana’s cocoa exports have taken a big hit recently. Smugglers bought 160,000 tons of cocoa from Ghanaian farmers last season, accounting for more than a third of total cocoa exports.
It is also three times as much as a year earlier. This was reported by Cocobod, the government agency responsible for Ghanaian cocoa production.
Ghana has also produced less because cocoa trees became diseased and harvests were disappointing. All this is probably causing the biggest drop in Ghanaian cocoa production in over twenty years.
The problems caused trade prices to rise above $9,000 (€8,100) per tonne for the first time earlier this year. The farmers themselves are still getting little for their cocoa.
Farmers also often get paid late by Cocobod, because the institution is struggling with payment arrears. Smugglers, on the other hand, pay faster and offer more money. That makes it an attractive option for farmers.
Deploying soldiers
Smugglers then channel the raw material to countries such as Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali. Ghana wants to combat smuggling by deploying military personnel. Cocobod emphasises that this means that around 250 tonnes of cocoa have already been intercepted in the 2023-2024 season. That is 17 tonnes more than the previous season.
Partly due to the increased prices of cocoa, Easter eggs and other chocolate products in Dutch supermarkets were more expensive this year than last year. This was also due to higher sugar prices.
