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The most interactive edition ever of the World Cocoa Conference, the fourth in the ICCO’s series, was held at the Maritim Berlin Hotel in the German capital in late April, attracting about 1,500 attendees from 65 countries.

The Conference, which was generously hosted by the government of the German Federal Republic, and co-organised with the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, was also graced with the participation of dignitaries including ministers from ICCO Member cocoa exporting countries: Côte d’Ivoire (Minister of Trade of Côte d’Ivoire, H.E. Mr. Souleymane Diarrassouba), Cameroon (Minister of Trade H.E. Mr. Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana), Ecuador (Minister of Agriculture H.E. Mr. Rubén Flores Agreda), Nicaragua (Minister of Development, Industry and Commerce H.E. Mr. Orlando Solorzano Delgadillo), the Dominican Republic (Minister of Agriculture H.E. Mr. Angel Estevez Boudierd, and, representing Peruvian Minister of Agriculture H.E. Mr. Gustavo Eduardo Mostajo Ocola, the Ambassador of Peru to Germany, H.E. Mr. Elmer Schialer.

Also on hand to address delegates were Frank Mars, Board Member of Mars, the platinum sponsor of the four-day event, along with senior representatives of a number of important NGOs, civil society organizations and international donor agencies.

Conference delegates were welcomed to Berlin by Senator Dr. Dirk Behrendt, and the official Welcome Address was given by German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, H.E. Ms. Julia Klöckner. The opening session of the Conference also heard from youngsters from the German-based anti-child labour lobby group Schokofair.

ICCO Executive Director Dr. Jean-Marc Angagave the keynote presentation of the Conference, offering his candid view of the current situation in the cocoa sector and outlining his vision for achieving the changes required for the Global Cocoa Agenda, agreed at the first WCC in Abidjan in 2012.

Inspirational speaker and author Rick Antonson advised the large audience to consider legacy issues in its discussions about the future of the sector, and use ‘cathedral thinking’ to address the ultimate goals for cocoa.

Master of ceremonies Lucas Simons of NewForesight led the main Conference proceedings, and introduced a number of innovations to the Conference, aimed at increasing audience participation and providing practical and useful thinking from the entire audience of stakeholders on the serious issues being addressed. One of these was to invite the entire audience to discuss the presentations around round discussion tables set up in each of their chosen tracks across four major Conference topic areas in cocoa: Sustainable Production, Sustainable Industry, Sustainable Consumption and Sustainable Management.

He introduced the moderators who would guide the tracks, consisting of ‘deep dives’ into possible solutions for the sector: Simran Sethi, journalist and Fellow of the Institute for Food and Development Policy, who led the Production track; Committee on Sustainability Assessment President Daniele Giovannicci, who took the helmfor the Industry track; Dr. Torben Erbrath, Director of the Association for the German Confectionery Industry, leading the Consumption track, and Lucas Simons himself who led the Management track.

The audience was also invited at many stages to be more involved in the proceedings of the Conference by taking part in extra impact interviews (organized by NGO Solidaridad) with personalities from the sector, by being active in the interactive polling that took place at several points during the plenary sessions and by contributing to the Twitter wall that was actively used throughout the event.

The first afternoon offered a taster of each of the track topics, with panel sessions on topics ranging from achieving living income for farmers and addressing deforestation, through to stakeholder influence on the entire value chain and a new vision from producing countries, industry, civil society and farmers themselves.

The four breakout sessions of the second day of the Conference included a series of short and in-depth presentation ‘bursts’, before the members of the audience were invited to discuss, comment and make proposals on what they had heard. Led by the track moderators, the audience inputs were compiled at the end of the day to feed their ideas into the Berlin Declaration, the document that came out of the Conference aimed at showing a way forward for the sector.

The final day of the Conference addressed the next steps for the sector to take and the way forward, with an opening statement by the Assistant Secretary General of the ACP Secretariat, Viwanou Gnassounou, and including a summing up of the four tracks by the moderators. Other sessions dealt with assessing the progress toward a sustainable world cocoa economy, looked at new products and new potential in the cocoa and chocolate sector, reported on the highlights of the International Symposium on Cocoa Research in Peru last November to show the way science is supporting cocoa farming, and addresses gender issues and the empowerment of women in the sector.

It was then time for the audience to consider the draft of the Berlin Declaration, to which each of them had contributed via the discussions and the ongoing Twitter wall and other social media channels. The statement was then amended to take in many of the comments and suggestions that came in, making its content the most wide-ranging and representative position on the world cocoa sector yet produced by the WCC or the ICCO. You can see the final version of the Berlin Declaration and the compiled comments from the four tracks here.

Two popular side events at the Conference drew large audiences who gave their rapt attention: the second editions of both the Fine Flavour Forum, which immediately preceded the Conference, and the Women in Cocoa and Chocolate event, which took place on one of the Conference evenings.

The Fine Flavour Forum, devised in conjunction with the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting and moderated by IICCT Director Martin Christy and Founder Maricel Presilla. The day-long meeting looking at the fine cocoa and chocolate segment of the market, packed in discussions of new responses to issues like standards for evaluating fine cocoa and chocolate, productivity and profit in the sector, the increase in small-scale production and the threat from cadmium legislation. It included reports on the latest developments in the main fine flavour cocoa origins, some discussion segments and even a chocolate tasting.

The Women in Cocoa and Chocolate event, co-organized with NGO Solidaridad and sponsored by Mondelēz International brought together speakers from civil society, industry and farmers themselves, for an evening of interactive discussion, food, drink, music and dance that was much appreciated by all those who attended and underlined not only the role of women in cocoa but also how increasing their inclusion is even more crucial with the challenges that the sector now has to face.

Socially, delegates gathered in the WCC Exhibition, where suppliers to the sector were showing their latest products and services, for the Welcome Reception, to be greeted by Freidrich Wacker of the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture Food and by the ICCO’s Dr. Jean-Marc Anga. The Executive Director also took charge at the Conference Gala Dinner, held in the splendid 18th Century courtyard of the German Historical Museum, and graciously sponsored by Mondelēz International, whose Executive Vice President and President Europe, Hubert Weber, addressed the delegates during the evening. As is the tradition at this event, the ICCO also presented artisanal mementos of the occasion to the German host nation (represented by Hans-Joachim Fuchtel, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture) and to the three winners of special recognition for their work in the sector. The deserving recipients were Madam Yatta Samah, Chairperson of the Moawoma Rural Women’s Development Association of Sierra Leone, Antonie Fountain, Managing Director of the Netherlands-based NGO group VOICE network, and Dr. José Antonio Martinez Rojas, of the Comisión Nacional del Cacao of the Dominican Republic, a veteran representative of his country to the ICCO.

The main Conference concluded with closing remarks from the host government, delivered by Dr. Maria Flachsbarth, Parliamentary State Secretary to the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, and was wrapped up by Dr. Anga, who thanked the German government hosts, the organizing partners, the moderators and speakers as well as the many sponsors, donors, exhibitors, and assistants for their collective help in creating the most successful — and interactive — World Cocoa Conference yet.

Close to 200 photos from the Conference are available by clicking here

A video of some of the highlights of the Conference is available by clicking here

Main Conference Programme

(Click on highlighted presenter names to download their presentations)

MONDAY 23 APRIL 2018

Day 1: Vision and Challenges

Official Opening of the Conference

9:30 Welcome Address from the City of Berlin
Dr. Dirk Behrendt, Senator for Justice, Consumer Protection and Anti-Discrimination

9:35 Welcome Address
H.E. Julia Klöckner, H.E Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture of Germany

9:55 Schokofair Presentation

10:00 Ministerial Addresses
H.E. Minister of Trade of Côte d’Ivoire, H.E.M. Souleymane Diarrassouba
H.E. Minister of Trade of Cameroon, H.E.M. Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana
H.E. Minister of Agriculture of Ecuador, H.E.M. Rubén Flores Agreda
H.E. Minister of Development, Industry and Commerce of Nicaragua, H.E.M. Orlando Solorzano Delgadillo
H.E. Minister of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic, H.E.M. Angel Estevez Boudierd
H.E. Minister of Agriculture of Peru, H.E.M. Gustavo Eduardo Mostajo Ocola (represented by the Ambassador of Peru to Germany, H.E. Mr. Elmer Schialer)

10:50 Keynote Presentation
Dr Jean-Marc Anga, Executive Director, ICCO

11:10 Cocoa Break
Impact interviews on the couch by Solidaridad (1st Floor Foyer)

11:40 Statement by the Platinum Sponsor
Frank Mars, Member of the Board of Directors, Mars Incorporated

11:55 An Overview of Germany’s Chocolate Industry
Stephan Nießner, Chairman,The Association of the German Confectionery Industry

12:10 Introduction of conference moderator
Lucas Simons, CEO, NewForesight

12:30 Lunch 
Sponsored by Mars

12:45 –13:15
During lunch the Press Conference will take place in the Wien Room

Berlin, 25 April 2018–Released today, following input from about 1,500 stakeholders who attended the Fourth World Cocoa Conference in Berlin, was the Berlin Declaration, included below.

“Business as usual in the cocoa sector is no longer an option. We have to break the mould.” Dr. Jean-Marc Anga, Executive Director of the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), in the keynote speech opening the fourth World Cocoa Conference in Berlin, April 2018.

We, the delegates of the fourth World Cocoa Conference, held in Berlin in April of 2018, constituting almost 1,500 participants, from more than 65 countries, representing members of all relevant stakeholder groups, including producing governments, consuming governments, farmers, traders, grinders, processors, manufacturers, research institutions, civil society organisations, trade unions, consumer organisations, and many others.

    1.    Since the first World Cocoa Conference and the drafting of the Global Cocoa Agenda in November 2012, sector-wide efforts have proliferated to improve the lives of farmers, communities and the environment. However, these have not been enough to achieve significant impact at scale.

    2.    Too many cocoa farmers are still living in poverty. Deforestation, child labour, gender inequality, human rights violations and many other challenges are a daily reality in many cocoa regions.

    3.    We affirm that the cocoa sector will not be sustainable if farmers are not able to earn a living income.

    4.    A sustainable cocoa sector is a collective responsibility of all stakeholders, and we should work together to achieve this ambitious goal. Areas should be identified for increased non-competitive collaboration, at local, national and global level, avoiding a proliferation of efforts that lack coordination.

    5.    We recognise the urgency and scale of the challenges facing all of us. Our solutions will need to be equal to the size of the problem.

    6.    While acknowledging the commitments of the cocoa sector to achieve sustainability, it is time to review the means by which these have been measured and enforced, recognising that voluntary compliance has not led to sufficient impact.

    7.    Many of our challenges are not specifically cocoa-based, but are part of broader issues affecting rural communities. As such, holistic approaches, including effective governance, must be envisaged and implemented, where cocoa can operate as a driver for rural development.

    8.    Global price volatility and low farm gate prices have had a strong negative impact on the sector.

    9.    Without farmers, there is no cocoa. All actors should work together to create an enabling environment to professionalise cocoa farming.

    10.    Recognising cocoa farming as a business sector, farmer organization(s) should be stronger, and farmers should be encouraged to self-organise. This should include appropriate policies at national level.

    11.    Acknowledging the role of agricultural commodity development, including the cocoa sector, logging and bush fires, as drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, and recognising the strong contribution the cocoa sector can make in the restoration of forests and resilient landscapes, we commit to work together as a whole cocoa supply chain – in collaboration with the international community – to end deforestation and promote forest protection and restoration. We should improve yields on less land.

    12.    A new vision is needed in order to achieve true sector-wide sustainability.

Recommendations
Sustainable Production
    1.    All stakeholders should develop and implement policies that enable cocoa farmers to make a living income.

    2.    All stakeholders should foster policies and activities to strengthen the position and the rights of women.

    3.    Relevant stakeholders should contribute to creating an enabling environment that improves access to savings, credit, finance, and insurance, also for small-scale farmers.

    4.    Producing governments and sector-wide initiatives should implement and enforce policies and practices that ensure environmental protection, including anti-deforestation and reforestation measures, soil protection, and agroforestry systems.

    5.    Governments should give due consideration to the needs of farmers in international trade, including options for robust international competition laws that promote fair trade for both farmers and consumers.

    6.    Child labour does not have a place in a sustainable cocoa value chain. All sectors should increase efforts, efficiency and cooperation to eradicate child labour and its root causes.

Sustainable Industry
    7.    Supply chain traceability should be recognised as a necessity for a sustainable value chain. A sector wide consensus on traceability should be developed. Efforts must be undertaken to ensure that this does not lead to additional costs and other burdens being transferred to the farmers without sufficient remuneration.

    8.    Sector sustainability efforts should be transparent and publicly accountable in both efforts and impacts, including through appropriate monitoring and evaluation frameworks.

Sustainable Consumption
    9.    Engage the sector in dynamic activities to stimulate processing in origin countries and healthy cocoa consumption in origin countries and emerging cocoa markets.

    10.    Complying with SPS requirements is in the interest of consumers and producers alike. It is essential to ensure that the necessary assistance (technical, financial, or otherwise) is provided to enable producers to comply with these requirements.

Sustainable Management
    11.    Producing country governments to coordinate national and regional cocoa policies, specifically being mindful of the impact this can have on cocoa prices.

    12.    Producing country governments should strengthen National Cocoa Development Plans (NCDPs); including a strengthening of infrastructure, extension services, farm diversification, tenure security, etc, making efforts to ensure a transparent, inclusive and participatory approach in the development and implementation of the NCDPs.

    13.    Producing country governments are called upon to carry out a reliable inventory of cocoa tree stocks.

    14.    All stakeholders are called upon to strengthen human rights due diligence across the supply chain, including through potential regulatory measures by governments.

    15.    Public and private sector are encouraged to stimulate scientific research & development into sustainable production, consumption and innovative processing.

    16.    Governments of producing and consuming nations are called upon to re-evaluate the effectiveness and transparency of their investments in the cocoa sector.

    17.    The entire cocoa sector, including industry, governments of consuming nations, producing nations, international donors, cocoa farmers, and other relevant institutions, are called upon urgently to increase their investments in the improvement of the cocoa sector.

    18.    The time to act is now.

Summaries of the results of discussions on the four major tracks of the Conference:

Track 1 Sustainable Production (moderator Simran Sethi)
How can we move to a sustainable business case and a living income for farmers?

MAIN BARRIERS
•    Lack of information of:
•    producers concerning the price and the market
•    consumers concerning the value distribution along the value chain
•    governments concerning the cocoa producers’ network
•    Lack of education and business skill of the farmers
•    Lack of organisation of the cocoa producers
•    Low access to finance and land for farmers
•    Poor integration of the farmers to the value chain

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE OTHER TRACKS
All the topics are interrelated and need to be maintained to ensure sustainable chain
Track 1 is related to:
•    Mechanization of agriculture and local processing + commitment of industry to pay fixed incomes to farmers
•    Local consumption through the increasing awareness of the value chain for local consumption and sustainable global consumption
•    Management through the redefinition of the relationship with commodity markets

MAIN NEXT STEPS
•    To pay higher farm gate prices
•    To organize and strengthen farmer advocacy groups and restructure cooperatives
•    To secure land tenure and improve the access to credit
•    To promote local consumption / create local markets for cocoa and develop value-added products
•    To support and develop the local processing (government and industry)

INNOVATIVE IDEAS
•    To set up a national / global trust fund for farmers
•    To improve cooperation across other industries (coffee, rubber, palm oil)
•    To shorten supply chains in order to develop direct-to-consumer / direct-to-small makers
•    To develop specific culturally-appropriate solutions (to pricing, gender disparity and child labour)
•    To set up a trust fund for the preservation of diverse genetic material (cocoa research centre / CATIE)

Cocoa Track Key Question: How can we move to a sustainable business case and a living income for farmers?
– By giving the farmers the place they deserve – as core part of the value chain, not simply as most assistance needed player but as decision-makers, as integral and important as the rest
– By ensuring a living income for farmers

Track 2 Sustainable Industry (moderator Daniele Giovannucci) 
How can we create an efficient industry chain that more effectively links farmers to markets and ensures profitability for everyone in the market chain?

Main messages:

1.    Better risk management
a.    Farmers have little understanding of financial or price risk management, there is a need for more financial literacy and active participation via organizations.
b.    Access to risk tools, especially financial ones, must come at the adequate scale for farmers and cooperatives.
c.    Diversification is vital for small farmers and sustainability programmes should include farm diversification packages to ensure continuity and well-being of farm communities.

2.    Professional organizations  – cooperatives can act not only as farmers’ representatives but also as functional social enterprises with a transparent organizational structure to manage sufficient and useful data. This will require dedicated programs to strengthen and build capacity.

3.    Diminishing key barriers for processing in producing countries can stimulate value and cocoa consumption as well as become a precursor to value-added export opportunities. The innovative investment that this requires is limited by policy that creates barriers for entrepreneurs to do business.

4.    Good information is key for the sector to learn faster, to scale up viable approaches, and to operate efficiently.
a.    To be viable, for traceability and decision-making, data has to share a “common language“ and indicators and that can help to reduce the challenge that information is asymmetrically distributed and keeps farmer in a weak position.
b.    Farm data has value and farmers should have value back either as revenue or as distilled knowledge.

5.    Any ethical trade approach is incomplete if it is not led by origin and integrates participatory approaches.

Track 3 Sustainable consumption (moderator Torben Erbrath)
What is stopping us from continuous and growing demand for sustainably produced cocoa and cocoa-based products?

–    Confusion about meaning and liability of levels of certification in consumer countries
–    lack of promotion in origin and a focus on exports of cocoa/chocolate
–    farmers often do not know what happens to cocoa when it leaves the farm
–    consumers do not know what happens to cocoa and how it is produced
–    often no price increase related to the introduction of 100% sustainable cocoa in final products, putting pressure on producers
–    a lot of standards and norms are consumer-driven, putting pressure on farmers
–    costs of production of sustainable cocoa (certification must be affordable)
–    threat of cadmium legislation in the EU
–    market access
–    price level and volatility
–    imbalance of added value towards consuming countries

What is the relationship with other tracks?
–    everything is related

What are possible next steps

•    development of micro-chocolate factories in origin countries
•    improve partnerships, especially in research
•    more uniformity in certification schemes and systems required
•    branding strategy for producing countries (telling the story)
•    pricing strategy among large producing countries
•    better labels
•    new marketing strategies
•    building awareness of about proposed EU legislation (on cadmium)
•    add a “rainforest premium” to support deforestation prevention
•    create funds to protect farmers from price fluctuations

Track 4 Sustainable Management  (moderator Lucas Simons)
How do we create the right enabling environment to make the whole sector more sustainable?

Challenges/root problems
•    Lack of information
•    Price instability
•    Weak producers’ organizations
•    Lack of access to finance
•    Poverty
•    Lack of transparency/ policies

Relationship to other tracks
•    All other tracks, in particular track 1.

Next steps
•    All local platforms mesh – with farmers as equal partners, also in ICCO
•    To have longer and consistent policies. Aligned between countries. Reviewed periodically, work from National Cocoa Plan
•    Make access to finance, and resilient farmers (as business) part of the National Cocoa Plans
•    Capacity building as part of NC Plan.
•    Human productivity: health, education, infrastructure, part of national cocoa plan.
•    Geo-date map all farmers/farms to enable: pensions, supply and demand, access to finance, better support

Innovative ideas
•    ‘Cocoa OPEC’
•    Pension scheme Ghana for all farmers (cocoa)
•    Non-partisan approach – policies and benefits for all
•    Geo date / map every farmer as enabler for many challenges to solve
•    National policies to balance/ coordinate supply / demand

Cocoa Track Key Question: How do we create the right enabling environment to make the whole sector more sustainable?
•    Implement the GCA framework
•    Not casual
•    Accountability / transparency
•    Resources to do it
•    Report and Measure
•    Action plan / Stop talking.

The International Cocoa Council and subsidiary bodies, including the Consultative Board on the World Cocoa Economy, as well as the Economics and Administration and Finance Committees, will meet at the Maritim Berlin Hotel, Berlin, Germany, 26 – 28 April 2018, immediately following the Fourth World Cocoa Conference, to be held at the same location.

Provisional Timetable of Meetings, 26 – 28 April 2018, Berlin, Germany

Arrangements for the April 2018 meetings

International Cocoa Council: Draft Agenda

Administration and Finance Committee: Draft Agenda

Economics Committee: Draft Agenda

Consultative Board on the World Cocoa Economy: Draft Agenda

Abidjan, 28 February 2018–The International Cocoa Organization today releases its first forecasts for the 2017/2018 cocoa year and revised estimates of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans for 2016/2017, as summarized below. The data published in Issue No. 1 – Volume XLIV – Cocoa year 2017/2018 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the beginning of February 2018.

Summary of forecasts and revised estimates

Notes:
a/   Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XLIII – No. 4 – Cocoa year 2016/2017
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 first forecasts for the 2017/2018 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 cocoa market are illustrated in colour charts. In addition, the Bulletinincludes 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 October-December quarter of 2017.

Statistical information on trade in cocoa beans, cocoa products and chocolate, by country and by region, published in this edition, covers annual data from 2013/2014 to 2015/2016 and quarterly statistics for the period October-December 2015 to April-June 2017. Details of origin of imports and destination of exports for leading cocoa importing countries are also provided. Historical statistics on cocoa trade and consumption, by country and by region, for the period 2007/2008 to 2015/2016 are presented for reference.

Copies of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, including Microsoft Excel files and Adobe PDF format, can be ordered by completing and returning this form, or from the ICCO Secretariat at the address below:

International Cocoa Organization
06 P.O. Box 6891
Abidjan 06
Côte d’Ivoire

Tel:              +225 22 51 49 50/51
Fax:             +225 22 51 49 79
E-mail:         registry@icco.org or info@icco.org

London, 30 November 2017–The International Cocoa Organization today releases its revised estimates, summarized below, of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans for the 2016/2017 cocoa year. The data published in Issue No. 4 – Volume XLIII – Cocoa year 2016/2017 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the middle of November 2017.

Summary of revised estimates

Notes:
a/  Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XLIII – No. 3 – Cocoa year 2016/2017
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 estimates for the 2016/2017 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 cocoa market are illustrated in colour charts. In addition, the Bulletin includes comments on the crop and demand situation in the leading countries, and a review of price developments on international markets for cocoa beans during the 2016/2017 cocoa year.

Statistical information on trade in cocoa beans, cocoa products and chocolate, by country and by region, published in this edition, covers annual data from 2013/2014 to 2015/2016 and quarterly statistics for the period July-September 2015 to January-March 2017. Details of destination of exports and origin of imports for leading cocoa exporting countries are also provided. Historical statistics on cocoa trade and consumption, by country and by region, for the period 2007/2008 to 2015/2016 are presented for reference.

Copies of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, including Microsoft Excel files and Adobe PDF format, can be ordered by completing and returning this form, or from the ICCO Secretariat at the address below:

International Cocoa Organization
, ICCO Building, II-Plateaux ENA – Avenue Boga Doudou, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
. Tel: +225 22 51 49 50/51
; Fax: +225 22 51 49 79; 
E-mail: registry@icco.org or info@icco.org.