Abidjan, 29 November 2024 –

The International Cocoa Organization today releases its revised estimates for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 cocoa years of world production, grindings, and stocks of cocoa beans, summarized below. The data published in Issue No. 4 – Volume L – Cocoa Year 2023/24 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the beginning of November 2024.

The commentary of this issue of the Bulletin points out that both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons were affected by supply challenges and ended with a supply deficit. World production of cocoa beans for the 2023/24 season ended with a significant reduction as unconducive weather conditions, diseases and pests took a toll on the major producing countries in West Africa. At 4.382 million tonnes, global production of cocoa beans is now estimated to be 50,400 tonnes higher than the Secretariat’s earlier projection in the previous Bulletin.

Global grindings fared better than estimated in the previous Bulletin by 65,000 tonnes from 4.751 million tonnes to 4.816 million tonnes. Though, for the 2023/24 season, cocoa bean shortage and high cocoa prices slowed down processing activities, cocoa demand still outstripped supply.

Summary of revised estimates

 

Cocoa year (Oct-Sep)	2022/2023	2023/2024		Year-on-year change
	Revised estimates	Previous estimates a/	Revised estimates
	(thousand tonnes)				(Per cent)
World gross production	5 044	4 332	4 382	– 662	– 13.1%
World grindings	5 058	4 751	4 816	– 242	– 4.8%
Surplus/deficit b/	– 64	– 462	– 478
End-of-season stocks	1 778	1 324	1 300	– 478	– 26.8%
Stocks/Grindings ratio	35.2%	27.9%	27.0%

Notes:
a/ Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. L – No. 3 – Cocoa year 2023/24
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 2020/21 to 2022/23 and quarterly statistics for the period October-December 2022 to April-June 2024. Details on destinations of exports and origins of imports for leading cocoa exporting countries are also provided.

Caution should be exercised in the interpretation of the data in this issue of the Bulletin as they may be subject to revisions in subsequent Bulletins and reports from the Secretariat.

Copies of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, in Microsoft Excel and Adobe PDF formats, can be ordered from the ICCO e-Shop: www.icco.org/shop or by email: statistics.section@icco.org

Abidjan, 31 October 2024. Vacancy notice – Economist

Title: Economist

Category/ Grade: Internationally recruited staff, P1 on the UN salary scale

Duty station: Abidjan

Type of contract: Fixed Term (5 years with 6-month probationary period)

Deadline for application: 31/12/2024 (Midnight UTC Time)

Indicative starting date: 01/07/2025 (latest date when the selected candidate is expected to take up her/his position in Abidjan)

Applications (only CV & Covering letter) to be sent to recruitment@icco.org

VACANCY NOTICE FULL DESCRIPTION – ENGLISH

Abidjan, 21 October 2024 – The International Cocoa Organization releases the Cocoa Market Report for September 2024. The current report highlights the following insights:

• Cocoa prices made headlines during the 2023/24 cocoa year.
• While some farmers enjoyed higher revenues, those who operated in regulated markets such as the the Ivorian Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC) and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) were unable to do so, as farm gate prices were fixed for the entire season.
• One should note that these institutions regulate their domestic market system with a self-financing price stabilisation policy, i.e., at no cost to the taxpayers, whose objectives are:
  • to protect farmers from intra-season price volatility (i.e. establish a fixed farm gate price); and
  • to give farmers a fair share of the price that buyers will pay to source beans from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana (i.e. enforce the fixed farm gate price).

The September 2024 report retraces the steps used by the CCC and the COCOBOD to determine the fixed farm gate prices for the 2024/25 season.

Caution should be exercised in the interpretation of the following steps as they are just guidelines.

You can download the complete report by clicking here.