Ghana yet to decide on cocoa farmgate price – Cocobod

Ghana will not make a decision on a cocoa farmgate price until an industry committee meets to discuss it in September, a spokesman for the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) said on Thursday.

Reuters this month reported that Ghana will raise cocoa farmgate prices by 5.2% for the 2019/20 season starting in October to 8,000 Ghanaian cedi ($1,477.38) per tonne, the first increase in four years, following strong sales of export contracts to chocolate makers and cocoa houses.

But Cocobod spokesman Fiifi Boafo said that no decision had been finalised and that a committee made up of representatives from the cocoa board, licensed buyers and farmers will make a decision next month.

“We need to get the input of everyone before we set a price,” he told Reuters.

Ghana and Ivory Coast, the world’s top two cocoa producers, joined forces in June to impose a floor price for cocoa of $2,600 per tonne and a live income differential (LID) of $400 per tonne. They have also been in talks for two years about simultaneously announcing their farmgate prices.