London, 17 October 2014—The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) would like to emphasize that its thoughts and prayers are with the citizens and the governments of three of its member countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, who are most affected by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. In this difficult time, the Organization is firmly supportive of all ongoing efforts, at local, national and global levels, in the prevention and eradication of this disease in the region.

Regarding the impact of Ebola on the international cocoa sector, it is noted that harvesting and shipping of cocoa in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have been seriously curtailed. However, combined cocoa production in these three countries represents about 0.7% of global output and is likely to have a minor bearing on the global cocoa market.

The total West African region supplies about 70% of the world’s cocoa and Côte d’Ivoire, which shares its western border with Liberia and Guinea, contributes almost 40%. While there have been some concerns that Ebola could reach Côte d’Ivoire, the rapid and strong reaction of its Government has kept the disease at bay so far, and the country has yet to register a single case. The main harvest for cocoa, which runs from October to March in Côte d’Ivoire, is currently well under way, and stakeholders are making all efforts to ship cocoa from the country as soon as it is available.

Ghana and Nigeria are the other two major cocoa producing countries in the region. No case has been declared in Ghana and, after a handful of initial cases decisively handled by its Government, Nigeria is on its way to being declared Ebola-free.

Current international cocoa prices seem to have factored in the Ebola issue and in the absence of a major negative development, we do not expect significant disruption of the market in the medium term. Nevertheless, in addition to concern over Ebola, many other factors affect cocoa prices on the market and these should be taken into account.

The ICCO continues to monitor the situation in the affected regions, and will report on any significant change if and when it occurs.

The Russian Federation on 1 October 2010 signed the International Cocoa Agreement 2010, the United Nations Treaty Section has confirmed.

Click here to see the official notification of signature to the Agreement from the United Nations.

Pictured: Mr. Vladimir Tkachenko, Director of the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, signs the Agreement at the UN Headquarters in New York

DURATION:
18 months
LOCATION:
Cameroon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo
NATURE OF PROJECT:
Price Risk Management
ESTIMATED TOTAL COST:
US$ 654,217
FINANCING COMMITED BY CFC:
US$ 313,828 – Common Fund for Commodities (CFC)
CO-FINANCING
US$ 87,444 – AFD and others
COUNTERPART FINANCING
US$ 252,945
PROJECT EXECUTING AGENCY (PEA):
 TWIN
PROJECT SUPERVISORY BODY:
International Cocoa Organization (ICCO)
PROJECT STARTING DATE:
 October 2014
COMPLETION DATE:
 April 2016

 

 

Brief Description:

The overall objective of the project is to implement a major programme of awareness-raising and capacity building in Africa to assist smallholder cocoa farmers in mitigating the negative impact of intra-seasonal cocoa price volatility and securing more predictable and ultimately better incomes from cocoa growing.
The project will broadly identify the specific impacts of cocoa price volatility and the strategies in place to cope with them in other to develop policy recommendations to improve strategies for price risk management. More importantly, the project will assess and select appropriate price risk management strategies and enhance the capacity of cocoa farmers and traders to use them.
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Project Status:

The project was completed and closed in March 2018.

 

Project Results:

Please click here to download the Project Completion Report (PCR)

London, 30 September 2014 — Graced by the presence of the Ivorian Minister of Trade, the Ecuadorian Vice Minister of Agriculture and Ambassadors from Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador, the 90thmeetings of the World Cocoa Council and its subsidiary bodies addressed a number of issues of relevance to the future of the cocoa sector and of the ICCO itself, at the Holiday Inn, Wembley, London, 15-18 September 2014.

A meeting of the recently expanded Consultative Board on the World Cocoa Economy initiated proceedings, with private sector and civil society representatives tackling subjects as varied as the recent World Cocoa Conference in Amsterdam, the need for a global cocoa resource base and the necessity for openness and transparency in addressing the issues of the Global Cocoa Agenda.

The Board meeting also included a live presentation relayed from Agrocalidad in Ecuador by Mr. Rommel Betancourt, updating members on continuing talks aimed at setting safe and practical limits for cadmium content in cocoa and chocolate. Another report, from Dr. Philippe Bastide of French research agency CIRAD, looked at cocoa-based farm models.

The main Council’s work began with the election of spokespersons for both the exporting and importing countries. As a result, Mr. Aly Toure of Côte d’Ivoire now represents the producing countries, while Mr. Conradin Rasi of Switzerland speaks for the consuming nations.

The Council was shown a film of the facilities of the venue in Bávaro, Dominican Republic, which is to be put at the disposal of the ICCO for the third edition of the World Cocoa Conference, and the representative of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Jose Antonio Martinez, explained that, among other highlights, the President of his country, H.E. Mr. Danilo Medina, would give the inaugural address. The Council agreed with the proposal that the Conference would be held alongside the March 2016 meetings of the Council, its subsidiary bodies and of the Consultative Board, and the dates have now been set at 14 – 19 March 2016. Speaking on behalf of the government of the host country, H.E. Dr. Federico Cuello, Ambassador to the UK of the Dominican Republic, said that the third edition of the Conference would be a positive and memorable event for the whole sector.

The Council also reminded its members of the existing ICCO initiative promoting of 1 October as World Cocoa and Chocolate Day, when the sector is celebrated worldwide. Indeed, a number of ICCO members, including Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nigeria announced their own celebrations due, or already taking place on or around that day, to complement the events already scheduled in consuming country nations including France and the UK.

A number of internal and housekeeping matters occupied the Council during the meetings, but the week also saw meetings of the Organization’s Economic and Administration and Finance Committees and a number of new officers were elected.

The International Cocoa Council itself named Mr. Enselme Gouthon of Togo as its Chairman, with H.E. Mr. Luis Valverde of Ecuador as Vice Chairman, both for the cocoa year 2014/2015 beginning on 1 October.

Mrs. Miriam Okwabi of Ghana is to take over as Chairman of the Administration and Finance Committee, with Mr. Odon Pallaof Spain as Vice Chairman, both to serve for the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 cocoa years.

On the Economics Committee, Mr. Henk de Jong of the Netherlands is the new Chairman, while Mr. Corneille Tabalo of the Democratic Republic of Congo is Vice Chairman, also both to serve for the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 cocoa years.

The expanded Consultative Board of the World Cocoa Economy also released a list of its members for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 cocoa years (available to download here), and a Chairman and Vice Chairman of that body will be elected in due course.

The next ICCO Council and subsidiary meetings, including that of the Consultative Board, are to take place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 23 – 27 March 2015. The Ivorian Minister of Trade, H.E. Mr. Jean-Luc Billon (right), told the Council that his government attached great importance to the international cocoa economy, and that his country would be pleased to welcome the Council members to Abidjan next March 2015, and to ensure that the meetings would be a great success.

A cocktail reception was kindly offered by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire for the Council members, while the Ambassador of Sweden, H.E. Ms. Nicola Clase, kindly welcomed the Council members to her Residence for a reception in honour of outgoing Council Chairman Ms. Anna Tofftén (left). At the reception, ICCO Executive Director Dr. Jean-Marc Anga thanked Ms. Tofftén and presented her with the ICCO’s traditional commemorative golden cocoa pod to mark her year of service to the Organization.

Presentations made at the Meetings (click to download):

Consultative Board on the World Cocoa Economy:

CB Item 04 – Report on WCC2

CB – Item 05 – NCDP & PPP

CB – Item 08 – CB Farm Models 20140915v3

CB – Item 09 – ICCO Ochratoxin A 29th CB Takrama-v3

CB – Item 09 – Codex Cd

CB – Item 10 – ECA CAO FCC Joint Quality Productivity Group Update

Economics Committee:

EC – Item 03 – The Cocoa Market Situation – Sept 2014

DURATION:
18 months
LOCATION:
Cameroon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo
NATURE OF PROJECT:
Price Risk Management
ESTIMATED TOTAL COST:
US$ 654,217
FINANCING COMMITED BY CFC:
US$ 313,828
CO-FINANCING
US$ 87,444
COUNTERPART FINANCING
US$ 252,945
PROJECT EXECUTING AGENCY (PEA):
 TWIN
PROJECT SUPERVISORY BODY:
International Cocoa Organization (ICCO)
PROJECT STARTING DATE:
 October 2014
COMPLETION DATE:
 April 2016

 

 

Brief Description:

The project will implement a major programme of awareness-raising, training and capacity building in Africa so as to assist cocoa smallholder farmers to mitigate the negative impact of intra-seasonal cocoa price volatility and secure more predictable and ultimately better incomes from cocoa growing, contributing to a more sustainable cocoa economy..

 

Project Objectives:

The overall objective of the project is to provide cocoa smallholder farmers with the capacity to tackle appropriately their exposure to cocoa price risk.

 

Project Status:

The project agreement was signed by CFC, ICCO and TWIN (the PEA) in March 2014 and the PEA signed the contractual agreement with each National Project Implementing Agency (NPIA) for the project implementation. The conditions for the release of the funds by CFC have been met for all countries except Togo. The first tranche of the project grant is to be disbursed to enable the project to commence. The recent policy changes in Togo regarding cocoa prices are currently being reviewed to determine the required amendments to planned project activities. The ICCO is in consultations with the CFC and the authorities in Togo in this respect.