Archive for category: Latest News

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 08 December 2021. The International Cocoa Organization is honored to announce that, after a process that began in 2019, Colombia has joined the ICCO as a full Member country.

Yesterday on 7 December 2021, H.E. Mr Iván Duque, President of the Republic of Colombia, signed into law the bill for Colombia’s accession to the ICCO during an event attended by both representatives of the Colombian cocoa sector and a delegation from the ICCO, headed by its Executive Director, Mr Michel Arrion.

Colombia’s accession will expand the ICCO’s membership to 52 countries, with 23 exporting Member countries and 29 importing Member countries. Colombia will be the ninth Member country in the Latin America and Caribbean region, joining Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

Welcoming the news, the ICCO Executive Director Mr Michel Arrion said “We are pleased to welcome Colombia as the 52nd Member of the ICCO. Colombia’s membership is tangible proof of our shared commitment to achieve a more sustainable world cocoa economy through enhanced cooperation between exporting and importing countries”.

During its stay in Colombia, the ICCO delegation also had the opportunity to liaise with relevant Colombian associations, such as Fedecacao, which played a key role in the completion of this process, and with private sector representatives, and visited one of the main cocoa producing regions in the country.

 

About ICCO

The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) is an inter-governmental organization established in 1973 under the auspices of the United Nations and operating within the framework of successive International Cocoa Agreements. The ICCO is headquartered in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

The Organization comprises 52 Member countries, of which 23 are cocoa exporting countries and 29 are cocoa importing countries. These Member countries together represent 92% of world cocoa exports and 80% of world cocoa imports (https://www.icco.org/who-we-are/membership/)

The ICCO seeks to promote and support the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of the cocoa value chain, and in particular to improve the living conditions of cocoa farmers. The Organization acts as a center for knowledge and innovation in the world cocoa economy; as a platform for institutional cooperation to foster dialogue among its Member countries and between key stakeholders in the cocoa value chain; and as a source of technical assistance for its Member countries.

For more information, please contact:           info@icco.org

Abidjan, 30 November 2021 – The International Cocoa Organization today releases its revised estimates for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 cocoa years of world production, grindings, and stocks of cocoa beans, summarized below. The data published in Issue No. 4 – Volume XLVII – Cocoa Year 2020/21 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the beginning of November 2021.

For this issue, several revisions have been made to the 2020/21 cocoa balance sheet. On the supply side, the production estimate has been adjusted up by 34,000 tonnes to 5.175 million tonnes, almost 1% above estimate provided in the previous Bulletin. A higher yield observed in most of the major producing countries underlined the upward revisions. Indeed, conducive weather conditions globally played a major role in setting a new production record.

On the demand side, grindings have been adjusted higher by almost 51,000 tonnes to 4.911 million tonnes based on increased use of beans as reflected in the trade of cocoa products. Notwithstanding the challenges of COVID-19, the opening of economies worldwide in 2021 has stimulated the overall recovery observed in the 2020/21 season’s grindings. Cocoa grindings in 2020/21 are heading towards pre-pandemic levels – from an estimate of 4.707 million tonnes in 2019/20 to 4.911 million tonnes in 2020/21, which reflects a 4% year-on-year increase.

Summary of revised estimates

 

Cocoa year (Oct-Sep)	2019/2020	2020/2021		Year-on-year change
	Revised estimates	Previous estimates a/	Revised estimates
	(thousand tonnes)				(Per cent)
World production	4 735	5 141	5 175	+ 440	+ 9.3%
World grindings	4 707	4 860	4 911	+ 204	+ 4.3%
Surplus/deficit b/	-19	+ 230	+ 212
End-of-season stocks	1 712	1 963	1 924	+ 212	+ 12.4%
Stocks/Grindings ratio	36.4%	30.4%	39.2%

Notes:
a/ Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XLVII – No. 3 – Cocoa year 2020/2021
b/  Surplus/deficit: net world crop (gross crop adjusted for loss in weight) minus grindings. Totals may differ due to rounding

 

Statistical information on trade in cocoa beans, cocoa products and chocolate, by country and by region, published in this edition, covers annual data from 2017/18 to 2019/20 and quarterly statistics for the period October-December 2019 to April-June 2021. Details on destinations of exports and origins of imports for leading cocoa exporting countries are also provided.

Copies of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, in Microsoft Excel and Adobe PDF formats, can be ordered from the new ICCO e-Shop: www.icco.org/shop or by email: statistics.section@icco.org

Abidjan, 6 October 2021

Additional information

Subject: Clarifications on the call for bids to host the 6th edition of the World Cocoa Conference in 2024

The Executive Director presents his compliments and informs Members that following enquiries from potential bidders to host the 6th edition of the World Cocoa Conference in 2024 (WCC6), the Secretariat of the ICCO would like to clarify the following points with reference to the call for bids, shared previously with Members via ED(MEM) 1156.

1. Regarding cost sharing (point 8 of the call for bids): the bidder must commit to contribute to 50% of all the costs of the Conference. The indicative amount of the global budget is €1.3 million. The final budget will be negotiated and agreed upon between the ICCO and the preselected bidder, on the basis of their bid and all information gathered by both parties, within 3 months after the decision of the ICCO to award the organisation of the WCC6 to the pre-selected bidder (indicative date of the decision: June 2022).
2. All proceeds arising from the sales of tickets for the Conference, gala dinner, exhibition stands, and sponsoring will go to the ICCO. The Professional Conference Organizer (PCO, point 9 of the call for bids) will have the exclusive rights to sell the above products and will be remunerated exclusively by a commission on the sales. All costs incurred by the PCO in the execution of the tasks (travel, accommodation, coordination, creation and design of graphic charts and other material, promotion, marketing, sales, administration, management of the Conference, of the gala dinner and the exhibition, etc.) are covered by this remuneration.
3. The PCO can be hired by the bidder and be part of the bid. Bidders can alternatively recommend one or more PCOs. In the former case, the amount of the commission of the PCO should be indicated in the bid, and it will be part of the negotiation and agreement on the final budget referred to under point 1 above. In the latter case, the ICCO will select and hire a PCO according to its own procurement rules. The ICCO will negotiate the commission to be integrated in the final budget directly with the selected PCO.
4. The deadline for the submission of the bids is extended until Friday 29 October 2021, 11:59 PM UTC.

Abidjan, 3 June 2021. The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) is calling for bids to host the 6^th edition of the World Cocoa Conference (WCC) during the first semester of 2024, (tentatively in April 2024, the exact dates will be communicated later).

The WCC is the world’s premier cocoa gathering, bringing together government officials, the trade and industry, as well as civil society, to discuss and deal with the current issues involved in producing, trading, processing and marketing cocoa and its products, including chocolate. It is held on a biennial basis, having been launched in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire in November 2012, before moving to Amsterdam, the Netherlands in June 2014, then to Bávaro, the Dominican Republic in May 2016, and to Berlin, Germany in April 2018. The 5^th edition is due to take place in Bali, Indonesia during the second quarter of 2022.

All applicants should draft a submission containing extensive information on the following points. Preference will be given to formal bids from ICCO importing Member countries.

1. THE CONFERENCE VENUE:

The World Cocoa Conference attracts a high number of participants, representing the whole spectrum of stakeholders in the cocoa value chain: the public sector, the private sector and the civil society.

The four-day Conference in 2024 is expected to attract about 1,300 delegates and will include both plenary and simultaneous multitrack breakout sessions. Thus, the conference venue would have to include at least one auditorium to seat an audience of 1,300 participants and a minimum of three (3) nearby breakout rooms, each having a seating capacity of around 400 participants. Because of the international nature of the Conference, all the meeting rooms should either have to incorporate four (4) soundproofed interpretation booths, or have sufficient space to build these booths within the rooms without affecting seating capacity.

Other additional nearby rooms would also be required, to serve as Organizer/Secretariat office, Executive Director’s office, VIP speaker room, Speaker ready room, Press room, etc. At least six (6) rooms of various sizes would be required for this purpose.

2. THE EXHIBITION:

An exhibition will be held during the Conference. From past experiences, we expect up to 100 stands of 3 meters × 3 meters (9 square meters). This would require another large room or rooms, close to the main auditorium and breakout rooms but separated from it by at least one soundproofed wall.

3. CATERING:

Buffet style lunch will be served for all Conference delegates, in a nearby room or rooms with an expandable number of seating places. The same or alternative spaces could be used for Cocoa Breaks, when cocoa, coffee and tea would be offered to delegates mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

4. GALA DINNER:

A formal Conference Dinner should be held, at an appropriate offsite venue (with transportation provided). We expect an attendance of approximately 600 delegates.

5. ACCOMMODATION:

A list of potential accommodation should be included in the bid with hotels ranging from three- to five-stars, near the Conference venue. These rooms would be made available to registered participants at discounted rates.

6. ACCESSIBILITY BY AIR:

As the Conference attracts delegates from many countries, the venue should be located within proximity of an international airport, or at the very least an airport with good connections and accessibility for international flights, especially from Africa, Asia and Latin America.

7. LOCAL, REGIONAL AND NATIONAL ASSISTANCE:

It is crucial to have strong evidence of support from government (local, regional or national) and the cocoa sector (trade associations or individual companies). This support could be demonstrated either by a significant financial contribution to the overall Conference budget, a major contribution in kind or by taking responsibility for some of the costs to run the Conference (e.g., rental of the venue, subsidising delegates unable to afford the costs of attending, the Gala Dinner, catering or other major budgeted costs).

8. BUDGET & COST SHARING

The applicant should commit to contributing 50% of the total budget of the conference (in kind or in cash) and should include a written confirmation of this commitment in the bid. The other half of the budget will be covered by the ICCO. The estimated total cost for the organization of a World Cocoa Conference is about €1.3 million.

9. PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCE ORGANIZER (PCO)

A Professional Conference Organizer (PCO) should be hired to promote, market, sell, administer and manage the Exhibition, the Conference and the Gala Dinner. The costs associated with hiring the PCO are covered by a commission deducted from the sales revenues made by the PCO (from conference registration, sponsorship and exhibition, meeting rooms, sale of the Gala Dinner tickets, etc…).

Applicants have the choice to either select and hire a PCO that must contractually fully collaborate with the ICCO, or recommend a PCO that will have a direct contract with the ICCO. In both cases, the details of the contract will be subject to negotiation.

The ICCO would respectfully ask that applicants address each point 1-9 in their formal presentations. Any other supporting information would be welcome. The deadline for the submission of formal bids to host the World Cocoa Conference is Friday 15 October 2021, 11:59 pm GMT.

Bids should be sent in digital format to Mrs Laetitia ANEY, Sustainable Development Officer, International Cocoa Organization, Laetitia.Aney@icco.org

The International Cocoa Council will consider all formal bids at its 105^th regular session and a final decision is expected by June 2022 at the latest.

For further information or enquiries about bidding for the World Cocoa Conference 2024, please contact Mrs Laetitia ANEY, Sustainable Development Officer, International Cocoa Organization; e-mail: Laetitia.Aney@icco.org

Abidjan, 31 August 2021 – The International Cocoa Organization today releases its revised forecasts for the 2020/21 cocoa year and revised estimates of world production, grindings, and stocks of cocoa beans for the 2019/20 cocoa year. The data published in Issue No. 3 – Volume XLVII – Cocoa year 2020/21 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the beginning of August 2021.

Though the pandemic triggered a shutdown of activities resulting in depressed commodity demand and supply disruptions, vaccination exercises have led countries to open and this is prompting a better outlook for commodities. Cocoa demand is seen to be recovering from the decline caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as the reopening of economies (retail facilities among others) has contributed to an improved utilization growth of cocoa. As far as cocoa supply is concerned, a record production is expected and a supply surplus is anticipated for the ongoing season.

For the current 2020/21 season, world production and grindings are projected to be higher than previously forecast. Compared to the figure published in the previous issue of the Bulletin, world production is forecast to attain a record level at 5.141 million tonnes (up by 117,000 tonnes).

The global production surplus is now forecast at 230,000 tonnes, compared with the Secretariat’s earlier projection of a surplus of 165,000 tonnes. Total statistical stocks of cocoa beans at the end of the 2020/21 season should therefore increase to 1.963 million tonnes, which is equivalent to 40.4% of the projected grindings for 2020/21.

Summary of forecasts and revised estimates

 

Cocoa year (Oct-Sep)	2019/2020	2020/2021		Year-on-year change
	Revised estimates	Previous forecasts a/	Revised forecasts
	(thousand tonnes)				(Per cent)
World gross production	4 760	5 024	5 141	+ 381	+ 8.0%
World grindings	4 703	4 809	4 860	+ 157	+ 3.3%
Surplus/deficit b/	+9	+ 165	+ 230
End-of-season stocks	1 733	1 893	1 963	+ 230	+ 13.3%
Stocks/Grindings ratio	36.8%	39.4%	40.4%

Notes:
a/ Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XLVII – No. 2 – Cocoa year 2020/21
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 2020/21 cocoa year as well as data for the past four years of production and grindings of cocoa beans, detailed by country. The main features of the global market are illustrated in colour charts. In addition, the Bulletin includes comments on the crop and demand prospects in the leading countries for the current season, a review of price developments on international markets for cocoa beans during the April-June quarter of 2021 and the evolution of trade flow data estimated for major cocoa exporting and importing countries during the January – March 2021 quarter of the 2020/21 season.

Statistical information on trade in cocoa beans, cocoa products and chocolate, by country and by region, published in this edition, covers crop year data from 2017/18 to 2019/20 and quarterly statistics for the period July-September 2019 to January-March 2021. 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 2011/12 to 2019/20 are presented for reference.

Copies of the May 2021 Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, in Microsoft Excel and Adobe PDF formats, can be ordered from the new ICCO e-Shop: www.icco.org/shop or by email: statistics.section@icco.org