In mid-October, the ICCO’s Director of Economics and Statistics Mr. Laurent Pipitone took part in a series of conferences across Peru aimed at raising awareness about opportunities in the international market for fine or flavour cocoa.
Peru’s cocoa production has doubled in the past five years to over 80,000 tonnes in the 2014/2015 season, and the country’s output is expected to continue to surge in the coming years. However, while the country has traditionally been a large fine or flavour cocoa producer, most of the recent increase was the result of new plantations of conventional cocoa. This development has led to the need to review and discuss with the various local stakeholders the country’s cocoa strategy in terms of market opportunities and profitability, in the short and long terms.
Pictured: The ICCO’s Laurent Pipitone makes a presentation in Lima (above); The Peru Cocoa Alliance Conference at Pucallpa, Ucayali (below); Peru Cocoa Alliance Director Jose Iturrios Padilla and his team with Jose Isuiza and Laurent Pipitone (bottom)
The series of conferences, entitled ‘New tendencies on the international cocoa market: opportunities for Peru as a fine flavour cocoa producer’ was organized by the Peru Cocoa Alliance, an initiative supporting Peruvian cocoa growers, supported by USAID. The conferences aimed to inform Peruvian policymakers, cocoa growers, investors and international cooperation representatives about global cocoa market developments and to demonstrate the opportunities for Peru to produce fine or flavour cocoa for specialized international markets.
Over a period of four days, Mr. Pipitone visited a number of different areas of the country. The first stop was Pucallpa, Ucayali, where he saw the fine or flavour cocoa fields using agroforestry systems in San Martin de Mojaral, Campos Verdes. Mr. Pipitone and the Alliance’s Director Mr. José Iturrios interviewed field owner, Mr. José Isuiza, who explained why he decided to invest in fine or flavour cocoa with the Peru Cocoa Alliance team.
After a press conference with 35 journalists, Mr. Pipitone participated in a conference at Ucayali River Hotel, with Regional Governor, Mr. Manuel Gambini and regional government representatives in attendance. After the conference, at a lunch with investors, Mr. Pipitone met representatives of regional authorities, cocoa organizations and cooperatives.
At Tarapoto, San Martin, after another press conference, Mr. Pipitone made a presentation at a conference at San Martin National University Auditorium, along with regional authorities, representatives of DEVIDA (the National Commission for Legal Affairs and Alternative Development) and owners of local chocolate companies, who participated as panelists. At the lunch that followed, representatives of regional authorities, cocoa organizations and cooperatives were introduced to Mr. Pipitone. The Alliance then invited him on a tour of Tropical Crops Institute (ICT), where they presented their research on cocoa.
In the capital, Lima, following press interviews with the national media, Mr. Pipitone took part in a conference bringing together national authorities, investors, traders and a range of stakeholders, before more interviews and a farewell reception.
On his last day in Peru, Mr. Pipitone met USAID Mission Director Mr. Lawrence Rubey at the US Embassy and afterwards made a presentation to the Alternative Development Office team, attended by the Peru Cocoa Alliance. Mr. Pipitone also had a meeting with Ms. Carmen Rosa Chavez, Director of Agricultural Business at the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture.
In total, during the week, 580 producers, investors, students and regional government representatives participated in the conference in Pucallpa, 187 in Tarapoto and some 292 in Lima, in addition to 55 press impressions made in all three places.
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International Cocoa Council and subsidiary bodies, 26 – 28 May 2016, Bávaro, Dominican Republic
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 Bávaro Convention Center, Bávaro, Dominican Republic, 26 – 28 May 2016, immediately following the Third World Cocoa Conference, to be held at the same location.
Provisional Timetable of Meetings, 26 – 28 May 2016, Bávaro, Dominican Republic
Arrangements for the May 2016 meetings
International Cocoa Council: Draft Agenda
Administration and Finance Committee: Draft Agenda
Consultative Board on the World Cocoa Economy: Draft Agenda
World Cocoa Conference adds three events to its programme
London, 19 February 2016 – As part of the World Cocoa Conference, set for 22 – 25 May at the Barceló Bávaro Convention Center in Bávaro, Dominican Republic, three extra events will enrich the programme of the world’s largest cocoa gathering, the ICCO has just announced.
Immediately prior to the opening of the Conference, in a full-day session on Sunday 22 May, the Cocoa Producers’ Forum will encourage cocoa farmers from all over the world to get together, share experiences and harmonize their ideas in advance of the more formal business and technical sessions. Farmers representing the major cocoa growing regions are due to attend, and the meeting is free of charge to all farmers participating in the World Cocoa Conference.
Working with the international civil society organization Solidaridad, the ICCO is organizing the Women in Cocoa networking event, aimed to get women in the cocoa value chain better connected, and to strengthen networks. The fast-paced event will include short informal presentations, round tables with ‘speed dating’ for participants and demonstrations of food and cocoa products. The event is scheduled for the evening of Monday, 23 May, and will be open free of charge to all registered female participants at the Conference.
Last but not least, and taking place on Thursday, 26 May, immediately after the conclusion of the Conference main sessions, the day-long Fine or Flavour Cocoa Forum is being held to bring together all the participants in the fine or flavour part of the cocoa community. Cocoa growers, exporters and chocolate industry representatives (from the smallest chocolatiers to the large players), are most welcome to attend the Forum, which is being co-organized by the ICCO with direct trade fine cacao organization Direct Cacao. Once again, the Forum is free of charge to registered participants at the Conference.
All of these events are in addition to the main Conference, which runs from the official opening of the Exhibition on the afternoon of Sunday, 22 May to the final Gala Dinner on the evening of Wednesday, 25 May. Already hundreds of delegates have registered for the Conference, which will gather all parts of the cocoa value chain to Bávaro. Hosted by the Government of the Dominican Republic, the event will be officially opened by the country’s President, H E Mr. Danilo Medina Sánchez, and addressed by senior representatives of cocoa producing and consuming country governments, as well as cocoa farmers from around the world, and over 100 speakers and panellists from the cocoa trade, the cocoa and chocolate industry, civil society and ancillary businesses.
For more details of the World Cocoa Conference, including the three extra events, and details of accommodation at discounted rates at the adjacent all-incusive hotels, please click on the logo below to visit the Conference website.
February 2016 Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics
London, 26 February 2016–The International Cocoa Organization today releases its first forecasts for the 2015/2016 cocoa year and revised estimates of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans for 2014/2015, as summarized below. The data published in Issue No. 1 – Volume XLII – Cocoa year 2015/2016 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the beginning of February 2016.
Summary of forecasts and revised estimates
(Oct-Sep)
Notes:
a/ Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XLI – No. 4 – Cocoa year 2014/2015
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 2011/2012 to 2013/2014 and quarterly statistics for the period October-December 2013 to April-June 2015. 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 2005/2006 to 2013/2014 are presented for reference.
Response to the Open Letter from the International Cocoa Farmers Organization
4 February 2016
Dear Mr. Sako Warren
Thank you for your open letter of 2 February.
We would remind you that the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) represents all stakeholders in the cocoa value chain, and as such, is prepared to cooperate with any actors in that chain. The objective of giving genuine cocoa farmers a stronger voice in the global conversation about the cocoa value chain, started in ICCO long before the ICCFO was established. This culminated in the Best Cocoa Farmer Award, designed by the ICCO and presented for the first time in Amsterdam at the second World Cocoa Conference in June 2014.
The programme of the upcoming World Cocoa Conference in the Dominican Republic has a Farmers Forum lasting a full day, to which all cocoa farmers are invited. This will take place on Sunday 22 May and all cocoa farmers can participate as long as they are registered participants to the ICCO’s World Cocoa Conference. Farmers are already coming from all over the world to participate in the Conference, including in several sessions of the main Conference that are specifically aimed at them and at their issues and concerns.
I suggest that you join us, rather than piggybacking on our established event with a competing conference of your own, a day before ours, for which you are charging participants a registration fee and soliciting sponsorship. This, in my view, is a deplorable and unfair practice, and is against the interests both of the ICCO and of the cocoa sector in general.
However, your members are welcome to join us at the World Cocoa Conference, and, doing so, would be able to speak to all parts of the value chain, not just to other farmers. That way, we can make progress on the serious issues arising in the cocoa sector.
We want to bring together all the different parts of the cocoa chain, very much including farmers, in order to achieve the ambitious goals that we have of making the whole chain more sustainable and of bringing benefits for all, but especially for the farmers.
Yours sincerely
Dr. Jean-Marc Anga
Executive Director
International Cocoa Organization (ICCO)
Assessment of world cocoa bean stocks for 2014-15
London, 28 January 2016 — The ICCO Expert Working Group on Stocks (EWGS) met today, Thursday 28 January 2016, to review the level of world cocoa bean stocks. The EWGS is composed of experts in the cocoa field who meet once a year, at the invitation of the ICCO, to review and analyse the results of the ICCO’s annual survey of cocoa stocks held in warehouses worldwide. The survey is conducted every year since 2000 and aims to improve transparency in the cocoa market.
The result of the latest survey showed that world cocoa bean stocks rose to 1.505 million tonnes as at the end of the 2014/2015 cocoa year (30 September 2015), representing stock levels at 3,000 tonnes higher than the previous year. This result appeared to show a smaller supply surplus than the one published by the ICCO in November 2015 in its latest Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics (QBCS), estimated at 36,000 tonnes for the 2014/15 season.
2014
2015
Totals and differences may differ due to rounding
The EWGS would like to note that caution should be exercised in the interpretation of the difference between the results of the survey and the statistically derived stocks.
The ICCO Secretariat maintains, so far, its supply surplus estimate of 36,000 tonnes for 2014/15 as published in its latestQBCS, and to be revised only in its next Bulletin due at the end of February 2016, taking into account the outcome of this survey.
Madagascar joins the International Cocoa Agreement 2010
Click here to see the official notification of signature to the Agreement from the United Nations.
Pictured: Mr. H.E. Mr. Zina Andrianarivelo, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Madagascar signs the International Cocoa Agreement 2010 at United Nations headquarters in New York
Peru conferences raise awareness of fine or flavour cocoa
Peru’s cocoa production has doubled in the past five years to over 80,000 tonnes in the 2014/2015 season, and the country’s output is expected to continue to surge in the coming years. However, while the country has traditionally been a large fine or flavour cocoa producer, most of the recent increase was the result of new plantations of conventional cocoa. This development has led to the need to review and discuss with the various local stakeholders the country’s cocoa strategy in terms of market opportunities and profitability, in the short and long terms.
Pictured: The ICCO’s Laurent Pipitone makes a presentation in Lima (above); The Peru Cocoa Alliance Conference at Pucallpa, Ucayali (below); Peru Cocoa Alliance Director Jose Iturrios Padilla and his team with Jose Isuiza and Laurent Pipitone (bottom)
The series of conferences, entitled ‘New tendencies on the international cocoa market: opportunities for Peru as a fine flavour cocoa producer’ was organized by the Peru Cocoa Alliance, an initiative supporting Peruvian cocoa growers, supported by USAID. The conferences aimed to inform Peruvian policymakers, cocoa growers, investors and international cooperation representatives about global cocoa market developments and to demonstrate the opportunities for Peru to produce fine or flavour cocoa for specialized international markets.
After a press conference with 35 journalists, Mr. Pipitone participated in a conference at Ucayali River Hotel, with Regional Governor, Mr. Manuel Gambini and regional government representatives in attendance. After the conference, at a lunch with investors, Mr. Pipitone met representatives of regional authorities, cocoa organizations and cooperatives.
At Tarapoto, San Martin, after another press conference, Mr. Pipitone made a presentation at a conference at San Martin National University Auditorium, along with regional authorities, representatives of DEVIDA (the National Commission for Legal Affairs and Alternative Development) and owners of local chocolate companies, who participated as panelists. At the lunch that followed, representatives of regional authorities, cocoa organizations and cooperatives were introduced to Mr. Pipitone. The Alliance then invited him on a tour of Tropical Crops Institute (ICT), where they presented their research on cocoa.
On his last day in Peru, Mr. Pipitone met USAID Mission Director Mr. Lawrence Rubey at the US Embassy and afterwards made a presentation to the Alternative Development Office team, attended by the Peru Cocoa Alliance. Mr. Pipitone also had a meeting with Ms. Carmen Rosa Chavez, Director of Agricultural Business at the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture.
In total, during the week, 580 producers, investors, students and regional government representatives participated in the conference in Pucallpa, 187 in Tarapoto and some 292 in Lima, in addition to 55 press impressions made in all three places.
Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics – November 2015
London, 27 November 2015–The International Cocoa Organization today released its revised estimates, summarized below, of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans for the 2014/2015 cocoa year. The data published in Issue No. 4 – Volume XLI – Cocoa year 2014/2015 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the beginning of November 2015.
Summary of revised estimates
(Oct-Sep)
estimates
estimates a/
estimates
Notes:
a/ Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XLI – No. 3 – Cocoa year 2014/2015
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 2011/2012 to 2013/2014 and quarterly statistics for the period July-September 2013 to January-March 2015. 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 2005/2006 to 2013/2014 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
Westgate House
Ealing
London W5 1YY
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 8991 6000
Fax: +44 (0)20 8997 4372
E-mail: registry@icco.org or info@icco.org
Indonesia hosts cocoa futures market seminar
The programme, designed for cocoa producing regions, has already had success reaching Latin American stakeholders (in Guayaquil, Ecuador in July 2013) as well as participants in West Africa (in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire in February 2014).
Generously supported by the Indonesian Ministry of Trade, the seminar was opened Mr. Dedi Junaedi, Director of International Marketing at the Ministry of Agriculture, and heard first from ICCO Executive Director Dr. Jean-Marc Anga, who stressed the importance of stakeholders gaining an understanding of the futures market and strengthening their capacity to adequately anticipate supply, demand and price trends in cocoa. Mr. Deny Kurnia, Director of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Other International Organization Cooperation at the Ministry of Trade officially opened the seminar.
The Bali seminar included two modules, with the first concentrating on the cocoa futures markets and the second reviewing econometric modelling of the world cocoa market. The futures market module was delivered by the ICCO’s Senior Econometrician Dr. Michele Nardella (pictured above) and by Mr. John Fry, Training Delivery Manager at ICE Education Ltd (part of ICE Futures Europe). It covered risks within the cocoa supply chain, futures contracts and exchanges, hedging strategies and case studies, and aimed to make sure that attendees understood the market risks within a cocoa supply chain, the counterparties’ contractual obligations in a physical contract, forward contract and futures contract, and also were able to assess the size, side and timing of a cocoa stakeholder’s exposure to risk.
Mr. Laurent Pipitone, Director of the ICCO’s Economics and Statistics Division, along with Dr. Nardella, delivered the second module, on econometric modelling of the world cocoa market. Cocoa market fundamentals, the qualitative and quantitative modelling approaches, the model’s parameters estimator, stylized facts about the world cocoa market, econometric specification, estimation and simulation, were covered by the module. At the end of the module, attendees were expected to be able to assess the current market, translate stylized facts into a quantitative expression, estimate the equation’s unknown parameters using software, build an economic model of the world cocoa market from those estimated quantitative relationships and to simulate the impact of changes in the macroeconomic environment of the world cocoa market.
In his concluding remarks, after the four-day seminar, Mr. Pipitone thanked the Government of Indonesia for its strong support of the seminar both before and during the event. Mr. Ery Novrizac Yunas, on behalf of his Director Mr. Kurnia, praised the ICCO Secretariat’s work in successfully implementing the capacity building programme in the Southeast Asian region.
Feedback from the 70 attendees was broadly positive and participants found the seminar helpful and pertinent.
Attendees praise Accra project preparation seminar
Over 70 participants from all over the West African region attended the ICCO’s International Seminar on the Development, Implementation and Evaluation of Cocoa Projects, held in Accra, Ghana in June.
The seminar, kindly sponsored by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Ghana Cocoa Board, aimed to enhance the capacity and skills of relevant officials and other stakeholders involved in the development of the cocoa sector to prepare for and implement cocoa projects.
Opened by the Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Dr. Stephen Opuni (pictured above, second from left), Mr. Yusuf Daya of Afreximbank (above right) and ICCO Executive Director Dr. Jean-Marc Anga (above, second from right), the seminar included presentations from Mr. Yunusa Abubakar and Mr. Moises Gomez of the ICCO, Mr. Ebenezer Tei-Quartey of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Dr Coffi Noumon of the African Capacity Building Foundation (at left above), Ms. Teresa Widmer of Swisscontact and Mr. Daya.
Over its four days, the seminar covered project identification, project preparation and analysis, prject appraisal and review, project implementation and management, project evaluation and impact analysis, and project management software.
The seminar assessment forms completed by all the participants showed that generally they found the training to have been useful and pertinent in enhancing their knowledge of project management.
At the end of the sessions, Mr. Abubakar presented seminar certificates to all the participants, and thanked the Government of Ghana, the Ghana Cocoa Board and Afreximbank for its support. Dr. F.K. Oppong, Deputy Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board, then officially closed the proceedings by encouraging all participants to apply the knowledge that they had gained at the seminar to further develop the cocoa sectors of their respective countries.