Archive for category: Latest News

London, 27 February 2015–The International Cocoa Organization today releases its first forecasts for the 2014/2015 cocoa year and revised estimates of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans for 2013/2014, as summarized below. The data published in Issue No. 1 – Volume XLI – Cocoa year 2014/2015 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the beginning of February 2015.

Summary of forecasts and revised estimates

Notes:
a/   Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XL – No. 4 – 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 first forecasts for the 2014/2015 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 Bulletinincludes 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 October-December 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 October-December 2012 to April-June 2014. Details of origin of imports and destination of exports for leading cocoa importing 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 Microsoft Excel files and Adobe PDF format, 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

London, 23 January 2015 — The ICCO Expert Working Group on Stocks (EWGS) met today to review the level of world cocoa bean stocks. The EWGS 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 stocks held in warehouses worldwide. The survey has been conducted every year since 2000, and aims to improve transparency in the cocoa market.

The result of the latest survey showed that world cocoa bean stocks fell to 1.508 million tonnes, as at the end of the 2013/2014 cocoa year (30 September 2014) – a figure 19,000 tonnes lower than the previous year. This means that demand may have slightly outpaced net production in the 2013/2014 season. This result differs from the statistically-derived estimate published by the ICCO in November 2014 in its latest Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics (QBCS), showing a supply surplus of 53,000 tonnes.

The EWGS would like to note that caution should be exercised in the interpretation of the difference between the results of the survey and the statistically derived stocks.

The EWGS now notes that a cumulative gap of 151,000 tonnes has developed between the annual survey of cocoa stocks held in warehouses worldwide and the ICCO’s statistically-derived stocks figure. The EWGS suggests that the following factors may have contributed to this difference:

• Increase in stocks held in locations not reporting to the ICCO survey, such as in Indonesia; and
• Cocoa beans in transit higher than estimated.

While the ICCO Secretariat maintains, so far, its supply surplus estimate of 53,000 tonnes as published in its latest QBCS as its official estimate for 2013/2014, it may revise that figure in the next edition of the QBCS due at the end of February 2015, taking into account the outcome of this survey.

London, 5 December 2014—Sealing a wide-ranging international programme of collaboration, the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on 28 November signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Cairo, Egypt, where the bank is based.

The MOU aims to boost the development of the cocoa sector in Africa, foster the long-term competitiveness of smallholder cocoa farmers and support the local cocoa and chocolate products industry, to reinforce their capacity to participate in global trade.

Under the terms of the MOU, the ICCO and Afreximbank are to work together to develop activities, secure funding as well as devising and implementing projects.

Activities would include enhancing the sustainability of the cocoa value chain in Africa, increasing the capacity of cocoa farmers to improve their productivity, and supporting value addition in the countries by establishing new cocoa processing facilities and strengthening existing ones. Another significant part of the agreement would see the two organizations promoting cocoa and chocolate products consumption in Africa and in emerging markets, and focussing particularly on China and other Asian markets.

Regarding the huge potential Chinese market for cocoa, the two organizations agreed to examine the feasibility of a promotion campaign, including producing a market study to provide information to African cocoa exporters.

Afreximbank, through its successful African Cocoa Initiative (AFRICOIN) was already involved in many of the activities identified in the MOU, the Bank’s president Jean-Louis Ekra said, confirming that the bank had provided about $350 million in financing to support cocoa processing in the four major African cocoa producing countries. He estimated that another $400 million of funding would available to finance a broad range of cocoa development projects to improve the situation for cocoa stakeholders in the region.

ICCO Executive Director Dr Jean-Marc Anga said that he welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with Afreximbank, and highlighted the importance of supporting the processing of cocoa by indigenous businesses in Africa. He further stressed that the African cocoa sector has a great future and that the possibilities for transformational change in the region are tremendous.

Pictured: Afreximbank’s President Jean-Louis Ekra (left) exchanges documents with ICCO Executive Director Jean-Marc Anga at the signing.

London, 21 November 2014–The  International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) has noted numerous press reports this week identifying potential deficits in the supply of cocoa in the years to come, possibly reaching a level of one million tonnes in the year 2020, and would like to emphasize that its projections in no way bear out this fear, which it finds to be overstated in the extreme.

The ICCO would like to recall the following facts to ensure, as far as possible, an informed assessment of the current situation and future prospects for the supply of cocoa to the chocolate confectionery market and to other cocoa ingredient applications:

• In the past ten years, the cocoa market experienced five years with production surplus and five years with production deficit. The last cocoa season (2013/2014), just ended in September 2014, experienced a production surplus, with the two leading producing countries, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, each posting record production;
• The price for cocoa beans has varied widely over the years and is currently below the historical (1850 – 2014) median level in real terms (adjusted for inflation);
• Cocoa production responds to changing price and therefore it cannot be assumed that, in the medium term (taking into consideration the lag between planting new trees and harvesting beans), demand will continue to grow and supply will either remain flat or decline. Cocoa, like any other agricultural commodity, is a renewable resource, so, when the cocoa price goes up, farmers will be incentivised to produce more cocoa beans by increasing their use of inputs and investing in new plantations.

As far as the ICCO’s current projections are concerned, there is no immediate cause for concern about the supply of cocoa for the next five years. There has been a tight relationship between supply and demand over the years and, while our projections show that supply deficits are likely to occur during the next several years, stocks of cocoa beans should cushion this development before production growth accelerates. There is no threat to the supply of cocoa for chocolate manufacture.

A number of the media reports highlighted many of the problems – sustainability, pests and diseases and especially the disadvantaged situation in which many cocoa farmers find themselves – which are at the heart of the work of the ICCO, its member countries and its partners worldwide. The ICCO’s ongoing process, identified in the Global Cocoa Agenda, seeks to deal with these serious issues. The Organization and its partners most recently reviewed progress in these areas at its World Cocoa Conference in Amsterdam in June. (A report of the Conference and many of the presentations made there can be found here).

The ICCO continues to make projections and forecasts based on the actual supply situation in the cocoa producing countries and the ongoing demand from the cocoa consuming nations, and will report on any significant change if and when it occurs. In the meantime, it believes that there is no cause for alarm regarding the availability of chocolate for consumers to enjoy.