August 2020 Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics

Abidjan, 31 August 2020 – The International Cocoa Organization today releases its revised forecasts for the current 2019/20 cocoa year and estimates for 2018/19 of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans, summarized below. The data published in Issue No. 3 – Volume XLVI – Cocoa Year 2019/20 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the beginning of August 2020.

Summary of revised forecasts and estimates

Cocoa year (Oct-Sep)	2018/2019	2019/2020		Year-on-year change
	Revised estimates	Previous forecasts a/	Revised forecasts
	(thousand tonnes)				(Per cent)
World production	4,780	4,750	4,724	– 56	– 1.2%
World grindings	4,784	4,783	4,635	– 149	– 3.1%
Surplus/deficit b/	– 52	– 80	– 42
End-of-season stocks	1,718	1,638	1,760	– 42	– 2.4%
Stocks/Grindings ratio	35.9%	34.2%	38%

Notes:
a/   Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XLVI – No. 2 –  Cocoa year 2019/20
b/   Surplus/deficit: net world crop (gross crop adjusted for loss in weight) minus grindings
Totals may differ due to rounding.

This issue of the Bulletin contains the Secretariat’s revised forecasts for the 2019/20 cocoa year, as well as data for the past four years of production and grindings of cocoa beans, detailed by country. The cover page as well as the content of the Bulletin have been redesigned to contain several illustrations. Besides the global market illustrations in graphs, for visualization purposes, the information in each section has also been captured in a number of maps, pie charts and Sankey diagrams. In addition, the Bulletin includes comments on crop and demand prospects in the leading countries for the current season, and a review of price developments on international markets for cocoa beans during the April-June quarter of 2020.

Statistical information on trade in cocoa beans, cocoa products and chocolate, by country and by region, published in this edition, covers annual data from 2016/17 to 2018/19 and quarterly statistics for the period July-September 2018 to January-March 2020. Details of origin of imports and destination of exports for leading cocoa importing countries are also provided. Historical statistics on cocoa trade by country and by region, for the period 2010/11 to 2018/19 are presented for reference.

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