World cocoa bean stocks for the 2022/23 season

London, 25 January 2024. The ICCO Expert Working Group on Stocks (EWG-S) met today, Thursday 25 January 2024 to review the level of world cocoa bean stocks. The EWG-S 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 bean stocks held in European warehouses as well as assess the level of global cocoa bean stocks. The survey is conducted every year (since 2000) and aims to improve transparency in the cocoa market.

 

LOCATION OF THE ESTIMATED AND IDENTIFIED COCOA BEAN STOCKS 30 SEPTEMBER 2021 30 SEPTEMBER 2022 30 SEPTEMBER 2023
Europe 753 842 771
North America (ICE) 355 368 323
Côte d’Ivoire 133 87 67
Ghana 99 13 29
Peru 26 28 28
Total identified stocks (*).                                    a 1,366 1,337 1,218
Manufacturers’ stocks 92 90 97
Cocoa beans in transit 108 73 81
Southeast Asis (**) 199 223 223
Cameroon, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Togo, Venezuela 54 73 73
Total estimated stocks (***).                                 b 452 459 474
Total identified + total estimated (a+b).          c 1,818 1,796 1,690
Total identified stocks as a percentage of total identified and estimated stocks (a/c) 75% 74% 72%
Total statistically-derived stocks (****).                      d 2,059 1,843 1,744
Total stocks as a percentage of statistically derived stocks (c/d) 88% 97% 97%

Notes: Totals may differ from sum of constituents due to rounding

* It refers to stocks identified in the last three consecutive seasons

** The stocks of 2021 and 2022 have been kindly provided by the Cocoa Association of Asia. The 2023 stocks have been estimated by the EWG-S

***  This only includes estimates for the countries listed above

**** Published in the ICCO Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Volume XLIX, No. 4, Cocoa Year 2022/23

While the ICCO Secretariat maintains, so far, its supply deficit estimate of 99,000 tonnes for 2022/23 as published in its latest Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics (QBCS), it may revise that figure in its next Bulletin due at the end of February 2023, taking into account the outcome of this survey.

For more information, please contact Carlos Follana, Marketing and Communication Coordinator, International Cocoa Organization, ICCO Building, II Plateaux ENA – Avenue Boga Doudou, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Tel: +225 27 22 51 49 50/51 | Fax: +225 27 22 51 49 79 | E-mail: Carlos.Follana@icco.org