May 2014 Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics

London 30 May 2014–The International Cocoa Organization today releases its revised forecasts for the current 2013/2014 cocoa year and revised estimates of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans for 2012/2013, as summarized below. The data published in Issue No. 2 – Volume XL – Cocoa year 2013/2014 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics,reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the middle of May 2014.

Summary of revised forecasts and estimates

 

Cocoa year
(Oct-Sep)		 2012/2013 2013/2014 Year-on-year change
Revised
estimates		 Previous
Forecasts a/		 Revised
Forecasts
(thousand tonnes) (Per cent)
World production 3 929 4 104 4 162 + 233 + 5.9%
World grindings 4 083 4 178 4 195 + 112 + 2.7%
Surplus/deficit b/ –  193 –  115 – 75
End-of-season stocks 1 640 1 547 1 565  – 75 – 4.6%
Stocks/Grindings ratio 40.2% 37.0% 37.3%

Notes:
a/   Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XL – No. 1 – Cocoa year 2013/2014
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 2013/2014 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 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 January-March quarter of 2014.

Statistical information on trade in cocoa beans, cocoa products and chocolate, by country and by region, published in this edition, covers annual data from 2010/2011 to 2012/2013 and quarterly statistics for the period January-March 2012 to July-September 2013.  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 2004/2005 to 2012/2013 are presented for reference.

Copies of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, including in Microsoft Excel files and in Adobe PDF format versions, 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, UK

Tel:              +44 (0)20 8991 6000
Fax:             +44 (0)20 8997 4372
E-mail:         registry@icco.org or info@icco.org

CNN’s Richard Quest to moderate child labour panel at WCC2 Amsterdam

London, 27 May 2014 — Richard Quest, the well-known CNN television business broadcaster and journalist, is to moderate a panel at the World Cocoa Conference in June in Amsterdam.

Having fronted an in-depth documentary for CNN’s Freedom Project, Cocoa-nomics, originally broadcast earlier in 2014, Mr. Quest is to moderate the panel looking at global efforts to eradicate the worst forms of child labour in the cocoa sector.

Mr. Quest previously interviewed farmers, top government officials and senior industry figures as part of the Cocoa-nomics project.

British-born Mr. Quest is one of the foremost international broadcast journalists in the business sector, and he hosts the CNN programme Quest for Business from New York every weekday.

The World Cocoa Conference, which runs 9 – 13 June at the RAI Convention Centre in Amsterdam, is set to attract over 1,000 participants from all over the world and across the entire spectrum of the industry, taking in farmers, traders, the cocoa and chocolate industry, governments of producing and consuming countries, as well as NGOs and civil society.

At the Conference panel on child labour, scheduled for Wednesday, 11 June, Mr. Quest’s panellists will include Mr. Nick Weatherill, Executive Director of the International Cocoa Initiative (which was set up to investigate this issue), Dr. Francis Baah, Manager of the Ghana Cocoa Board, and Mr. Benjamin Smith, the senior officer at the International Labour Organization looking at the problem.

Full details of the second edition of the World Cocoa Conference, which is scheduled to hear from 90 speakers and panellists on numerous cocoa topics over five days, are available at the event website www.worldcocoaconference.org.

You can download the latest edition of the Conference brochure here.

ICCO receives French Chocolate Academy’s 2014 prize

London, 23 May 2014 — The International Cocoa Organization in mid-May was presented with the 2014 grand prize of the Academie Française du Chocolat et de la Confiserie (the French Chocolate and Confectionery Academy).

At a ceremony held in Paris on 13 May, Academy president Xavier Conraux presented this year’s prize to the ICCO’s Director of Economics Laurent Pipitone.

The Academy, which comprises 40 elected members from a number of fields linked by a love and concern for chocolate and confectionery, presents its award annually to individuals and organizations that have assisted in the advance of standards in these areas.

The Academy said that the awarding of the prize recognised the work of the ICCO over many years, and in particular praised the Organization’s creation of the World Cocoa and Chocolate Day, which takes place annually on 1 October.

World Cocoa and Chocolate Day was established to draw public attention to the contribution of cocoa producers in the chocolate industry chain.

The especially dedicated day was initiated as the result of a decision by the members of the International Cocoa Council at their meeting in Berlin in 2008.

Pictured: Academy president Xavier Conraux (left) presents Laurent Pipitone of the ICCO  with the 2014 prize (photo by Éric Bernard)

World Cocoa Conference gathers the sector to hear over 65 speakers

London, 8 May 2014 — The second edition of the World Cocoa Conference, due to take place in Amsterdam’s RAI Convention Centre next month, will bring together a dazzling array of speakers, presenters and panellists from all over the world.

Among them are Ministers from host country the Netherlands, from Ghana and Ecuador, top executives from the world’s most important cocoa and chocolate industry corporations, senior government officials from the major cocoa producing and consuming countries, cocoa farmers and their representatives from a wide range of origins, and a large number of NGOs, research and educational bodies, along with speakers whose expertise ranges from the development of the world’s chocolate markets to the effective financing of cocoa farming.

The Conference, set for 9 – 13 June, will look at the progress of governments and industry in addressing the issues identified at the first Conference, attended by over 1,000 delegates in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire in 2012.

As a result, the Amsterdam edition of the Conference will look at topics including value distribution from the farm to the chocolate bar, efforts to eradicate the worst forms of child labour, improving productivity, attracting a new generation of cocoa farmers, protecting the diversity of cocoa, adding value to cocoa at origin, managing the supply deficit, promoting consumption in emerging markets and food safety issues, among many others.

The Keynote Presentation, to be made by ICCO Executive Director Dr. Jean-Marc Anga, is titled ‘How to Improve Cocoa Farmers’ Incomes’ and that theme runs through the Conference as one of the most important issues in the sector today.

The Conference, kindly hosted by the Government of the Netherlands, will be supplemented by an adjacent trade Exhibition, where some of the most important organizations in the sector will display their products and services.

Also taking place at the RAI will be a series of interactive lunchtime sessions on cocoa topics organized by well-known Dutch-based stakeholders including IDH, the Royal Tropical Institute and Solidaridad.

Conference delegates and guests will also be gathering at a number of social events both on and off the premises, highlighted by a Conference Dinner at the 17th Century Maritime Museum in the heart of the city.

To take advantage of Amsterdam’s status as the world’s top port and processing centre for cocoa, a number of site visits and sightseeing tours will also take place.

Welcome assistance for the Conference is being provided by sponsors and donors, including industry leaders Cargill, Mars, ADM Cocoa, Barry Callebaut, Mondelēz, Afreximbank, Olam, ProEcuador, and Syngenta and by BASF, Bayer Crop Science, Bühler, The Hershey Company, Filhet-Allard Maritime, Tradin Organic, StoPak and IDH.

For full details, including the latest speaker list for the Conference, click here to download the brochure.

The dedicated website for the World Cocoa Conference–where you can register online as a delegate and get information about sponsorship, exhibiting, travel to Amsterdam and accommodation–is at www.worldcocoaconference.org.