Archive for category: Latest News

Abidjan, 16 Sepember 2022 – The International Cocoa Organization releases the Cocoa Market Report for August 2022. The current report highlights the following insights:

• Though the current growing conditions in West Africa favours the prospects of a good crop for the forthcoming 2022/23 cocoa season, the observed spike in prices of farm inputs, especially fertilizers, is likely to generate some negative effects on cocoa production.
• At the end of August 2022, total stocks of cocoa beans in Exchange licensed warehouses are higher year-over-year on both sides of the Atlantic. Cocoa beans stocks in Europe Exchange warehouses are mainly made of African origins while in the United States, certified stocks of cocoa beans mostly originate from neighbouring Latin American countries.
• In August 2022, prices of the front-month cocoa futures contract averaged US$2,100 per tonne and ranged between US$2,041 and US$2,154 per tonne in London, while in New York the first position contract traded at an average price of US$2,369 per tonne and oscillated between US$2,278 and US$2,430 per tonne.

You can download the complete report by clicking here.

 

Abidjan, 31 August 2022 -The International Cocoa Organization today releases its revised forecasts for the 2021/22 cocoa year and revised estimates of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans for the 2020/21 cocoa year. The data published in Issue No. 3 – Volume XLVIII – Cocoa year 2021/22 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the beginning of August 2022.

Incoming arrivals and purchases data reflect expectations of a lower global production for the 2021/22 season. Inflation has taken a toll on the prices of farm inputs, resulting in a reduced usage of fertilizers and this, combined with less conducive weather conditions and diseases, has contributed to the downward trend observed in global cocoa production.

Cocoa demand has held up on multiple fronts despite rising input costs, including high energy costs alongside supply chain issues and increase in interest rates among others. Indeed, demand has thus far remained steady during the season and the reduction seen in global supply has to this point been less disruptive to the cocoa market. Yet still, it is worth noting that with the current slowdown in the global economy, cocoa demand is subject to many uncertainties.

Summary of forecasts and revised estimates

 

Cocoa year (Oct-Sep)	2020/2021	2021/2022		Year-on-year change
	Revised estimates	Previous forecasts a/	Revised forecasts
	(thousand tonnes)				(Per cent)
World gross production	5 244	4 923	4 890	– 354	– 6.8%
World grindings	4 998	5 048	5 071	+ 73	+ 1.5%
Surplus/deficit b/	+ 194	– 174	– 230
End-of-season stocks	1 913	1 754	1 683	– 230	– 12%
Stocks/Grindings ratio	38.3%	34.7%	33.2%

Notes:
a/ Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XLVIII – No. 2 – Cocoa year 2021/22
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 2021/22 cocoa year as well as data for the past four years of production and grindings of cocoa beans, detailed by country. 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 2022 and the evolution of trade flow data estimated for major cocoa exporting and importing countries during the January – March 2022 quarter of the 2021/22 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 2018/19 to 2020/21 and quarterly statistics for the period July-September 2020 to January-March 2022. 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 2012/13 to 2020/21 are presented for reference.

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

Abidjan, 13 July 2022 – The International Cocoa Organization releases the Cocoa Market Report for June 2022. The current report highlights the following insights:

• As at June 2022, while a supply deficit is expected for the ongoing 2021/22 season, cocoa futures prices have followed a downward trend which has mainly been triggered by economic uncertainties. A year back i.e. June 2021, prices followed a downward trend as in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global cocoa market was expected to end the 2020/21 cocoa year with an excess supply.
• The global cocoa market was at half-mast on both sides of the Atlantic in June with prices of the nearby cocoa futures contract averaging US$2,139 per tonne and ranging between US$2,059 and US$2,215 per tonne in London while in New York the JUL-22 contract traded at an average price of US$2,396 per tonne and oscillated between US$2,291 and US$2,522 per tonne.
• As no bottleneck in the haulage of cocoa upcountry has been reported and given the conducive meteorological conditions, other parameters like aging cocoa trees or cocoa-related diseases as well as poor agricultural practices could have contributed to reducing the yield of cocoa farms and subsequently lowering the level of arrivals and purchases in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana respectively.

You can download the complete report by clicking here.

 

Abidjan, 31 May 2022 – The International Cocoa Organization today releases its revised forecasts for the 2021/22 cocoa year and revised estimates of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans for the 2020/21 cocoa year. The data published in Issue No. 2 – Volume XLVIII – cocoa year 2021/22 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the beginning of May 2022.

Compared to the 2020/21 season, for the current 2021/22 season, the forecast for global production is projected to decline by 6% to 4.923 million tonnes. Grindings on the other hand are expected to increase by almost 2% to 5.048 million tonnes. The gap will be covered by a reduction in stocks of 9%.

Several factors including adverse weather conditions and diseases are negatively affecting production for the ongoing season, with concerns for the size and quality of the ongoing mid-crop in West Africa.

Following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, trade disruptions, sanctions and high freight rates are affecting cocoa and fertilizer trade. The shortage of fertilizers on cocoa farms will very likely affect the quantity, quality and size of cocoa beans next year.

Despite the geopolitical and economic challenges that the world is currently facing, cocoa demand for the first half of the 2021/22 season has so far sustained a positive stance. Factors which contributed to the increase in cocoa demand include the resumption of activities in the air travel sector, which is a major gateway for chocolate sales as well as the recommencement of seasonal festivities. Positive quarterly earnings reports from major confectionary manufacturers for the period January – March 2022 also reveal that confectionary sales, which include chocolate, have picked up and are heading or at par with pre-COVID-19 era trends.

Summary of forecasts and revised estimates

 

Cocoa year (Oct-Sep)	2020/2021	2021/2022		Year-on-year change
	Revised estimates	Previous forecasts a/	Revised forecasts
	(thousand tonnes)				(Per cent)
World gross production	5 240	4 955	4 923	– 317	– 6.0%
World grindings	4 973	5 086	5 048	+ 75	+ 1.5%
Surplus/deficit b/	+ 215	– 181	– 174
End-of-season stocks	1 928	1 747	1 754	– 174	– 9.0%
Stocks/Grindings ratio	38.8%	34.3%	34.7%

Notes:
a/ Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XLVIII – No. 1 – Cocoa year 2021/22
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 2018/19 to 2020/21 and quarterly statistics for the period April-June 2020 to October-December 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, 20 April 2022 – The International Cocoa Organization releases the Cocoa Market Report for March 2022. The current report highlights the following insights:

• Amid global economic uncertainties, cocoa prices have virtually not witnessed any significant price movements in March 2022. The ICCO average monthly prices for March 2021 and March 2022 were virtually at par at US$2,462 per tonne and US$2,461 per tonne respectively.
• In Côte d’Ivoire, the 2021/22 mid-crop started in April with the Government’s decision to maintain the farm gate price at XOF 825 per kilogram of cocoa beans; identical to the farm gate price set for the main crop.
• In Ghana, the latest information indicates that purchases of graded and sealed cocoa beans were very low year-on-year (down by 34% to 524,000 tonnes as at 31 March 2022) mainly due to unfavourable weather conditions that occurred in the country’s main cocoa growing regions

You can download the complete report by clicking here.