Archive for category: Latest News

LONDON, 7 January 2014–The International Cocoa Organization is to run another International Seminar on Futures Markets and Econometric Modelling of the Cocoa Market, this time at the Ivotel, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire,  24 – 28 February 2014, the ICCO announced today.

Organized in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture of Côte d’Ivoire and the Conseil du Café-Cacao, the week-long Seminar once again aims to give policy makers and other stakeholders in the cocoa sector, particularly from the African region, an improved understanding of the functioning of cocoa futures markets and the enhanced ability to use econometric models to forecast market developments.

Futures markets, also called terminal markets, play a vital role in the world cocoa economy. They allow those in the trade and industry to manage their price risk, provide valuable information on storage decisions, and collect and disseminate information on world prices.  In addition to examining in detail the functioning of these markets and recent regulatory changes, the participants will review, among other subjects, the impact of speculative trading on cocoa futures prices and volatility, and price transmission between the futures markets and the physical markets at origin.

Because of the specific nature of cocoa growing, investment / disinvestment decisions in cocoa production capacity takes several years to show their full impact. The lack of adequate forecasting and / or the capacity to conduct it has been a major factor leading the cocoa sector to experience periods of boom and bust, with cocoa prices swinging between less than US$1,000 per tonne in the year 2000 to over US$18,000 in the year 1977 (in 2012 price terms). The techniques involved ineconometric modelling can be used to forecast market development and to help stakeholders, from cocoa and chocolate companies’ market analysts to policy makers, to take informed decisions regarding investment in the cocoa business and thereby, optimize their rate of returns.

The two modules of the Seminar are scheduled to run back-to-back throughout the five days. The module on terminal markets is appropriate for those with an economic or financial background. Meanwhile, quantitative economists, econometricians and statisticians make up the target group for the module on econometric modelling. However, parties with the relevant background or knowledge can participate in either or both modules.

ICCO staff and international experts with an in-depth knowledge of the subjects will deliver the Seminar training. The Seminar follows up on a number of studies on cocoa price determination and the functioning of the cocoa markets published by the Organization’s staff in recent years, and the ICCO also has built a sophisticated econometric model on the world cocoa economy and publishes regular forecasts on cocoa supply and demand based on it. Both module topics already have been the subject of well received seminars held at the ICCO headquarters in London, and, in 2013, in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The Seminar will be held in Côte d’Ivoire’s commercial capital and cocoa port of Abidjan, at the kind invitation of the Ivorian Government.

[media-downloader media_id=”3475″ texts=”More details, including a full programme and a description of the subjects to be covered at the Seminar, are available by downloading the official announcement of the event here. Also included are a registration form for the Seminar, as well as booking details for the discounted accommodation rate available to attendees at the venue, the Ivotel in Abidjan.”]

[media-downloader media_id=”3472″ texts=”Plus amples informations, y compris le programme et la description des sujets abordés au séminaire sont disponibles en téléchargeant l’annonce officielle de l’événement. Sont également inclus le formulaire d’inscription ainsi que tous les renseignements concernant les taux préférentiels accordés aux participants pour leur séjour à Ivotel, Abidjan, l’endroit ou se déroule le séminaire.”]

London, 29 November 2013–The International Cocoa Organization today released its revised forecasts, summarized below, of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans for the 2012/2013 cocoa year. The data published in Issue No. 4 – Volume XXXIX – Cocoa year 2012/2013 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the middle of November 2013.

Summary of revised estimates

 

Cocoa year (Oct-Sep)	2011/2012	2012/2013		Year-on-year change
	Revised estimates	Previous estimates a/	Revised estimates
	(thousand tonnes)				(Per cent)
World production	4 080	3 986	3 931	– 149	– 3.7%
World grindings	3 956	3 998	4 052	+ 96	+ 2.4%
Surplus/deficit b/	+ 83	– 52	– 160
End-of-season stocks	1 832	1 784	1 672	– 160	– 8.7%
Stocks/Grindings ratio	46.3%	44.6%	41.3%

Notes:
a/   Estimates published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XXXIX – No. 3 – Cocoa year 2012/2013
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 estimates for the 2012/2013 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, it 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 2012/2013 cocoa year.

Statistical information on trade in cocoa beans, cocoa products and chocolate, by country and by region, published in this edition, covers annual data from 2009/2010 to 2011/2012 and quarterly statistics for the period July-September 2011 to January-March 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 2003/2004 to 2011/2012 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
Ealiong
London W5 1YY, UK

Tel:              +44 (0)20 7400 5050
Fax:             +44 (0)20 7421 5500
E-mail:         registry@icco.org or info@icco.org

At a press conference immediately after the meetings, the ICCO’s Executive Director, Dr Jean-Marc Anga, presented a review of the outcome of the 88th session of the International Cocoa Council, held at the Holiday Inn, Wembley, London, 23-27 September 2013:

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the final day of the 88^th session of the International Cocoa Council and its subsidiary bodies, where we have just concluded a wide-ranging and very well-attended meeting, including the expanded Consultative Board on the World Cocoa Economy.

We were pleased this week to have our meetings graced with the presence of Ministers, Ambassadors and High Commissioners representing our member countries.

We are coming to the end of the first year of the International Cocoa Agreement 2010, which first came into force on 1 October 2012. I was pleased to be able to report that Ecuador, has now officially joined the Agreement, bringing the number of member countries of the Organization up to 46. With a number of other countries on the point of joining as well, we are quite confident that the number of member countries under the Agreement will exceed 50 before the end of the new cocoa year.

This week the first meeting of the Consultative Board on the World Cocoa Economy took place in its expanded form, as agreed by the Council at its previous meeting in March 2013 in Bali, Indonesia. This Consultative Board now includes representatives from across the spectrum of the cocoa and chocolate industry, NGOs, suppliers to the industry and ancillary businesses related to cocoa. We had a good first meeting of this expanded group, and they are tackling a number of important issues under the auspices of the Council.

After the great success of the first World Cocoa Conference, held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire last November, we were able to report to the Council that plans are well in hand for the second edition of the Conference, to take place in Amsterdam from 9 – 13 June 2014. This event will review the progress made towards achieving the development goals set out in the Global Cocoa Agenda and agreed by all major stakeholders, for the sustainable future of the industry. We will also be addressing significant issues in the Conference content, including achieving remunerative prices and improved livelihoods for cocoa farmers by 2020. The latest details of the World Cocoa Conference 2014 are in a new brochure that has just been published.

We were able to report to the Council as well on the success of two other capacity building meetings held in member countries in the past few months—the International Workshop on Cocoa Certification held in Douala, Cameroon in June, and the International Seminar on Cocoa Terminal Markets and Econometric Modelling of the Cocoa Market, which took place in Guayaquil, Ecuador in July. The certification workshop brought together over 130 experts and stakeholders together to debate this important issue, while the seminar on cocoa terminal markets is now planned to be repeated in both Africa and Indonesia.

Among the projects we introduced to the Council is a new one called CocoaSafe, to take place in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, and which will aim to help smallholder producers and exporters improve their cocoa in order to consistently meet international food safety and SPS standards.

Closer to home, we were able to report on a smooth move into the Secretariat’s new offices at Westgate House in Ealing, West London, a move that will save the Organization significant outlay in rent, and will help the Organization achieve a zero-growth budget for the upcoming two years. These premises will serve us well until the agreed September 2015 date for a Council decision on whether the headquarters of the Organization will be relocated to Abidjan.

The ICCO last week published for the first time in six years its World Cocoa Directory, which we were able to introduce to the Council. The 2013/14 edition has been completely revised and updated, and it will soon be available in digital form as well, on the ICCO website.

We also discussed in the Council the organization of an ICCO delegation to China, in order to establish stronger links with the industry there, and of course to solicit China’s membership in the Organization. We feel that the potential cocoa market in China is very significant, and its closer participation in the work of the Organization can only be beneficial to the entire cocoa value chain. We were pleased to welcome representatives of the government of the People’s Republic of China to our meetings this week.

And finally, we are very grateful to two of our members: the government of Switzerland, which has kindly agreed to host the next meeting of the International Cocoa Council and its subsidiary bodies in Bern in March 2014; and the government of Côte d’Ivoire, which has kindly agreed to host the March 2015 meetings in Abidjan.

Also at the meetings: Executive Director Dr. Jean-Marc Anga presented outgoing International Cocoa Council Chairman Mr. Michael Ndoping with the ICCO’s golden cocoa pod (pictured above, Mr. Ndoping on the left). The Council elected Ms. Anna Tofftén of Sweden as Chairman for 2013/14, and Mr. Conradin Rasi of Switzerland as Vice Chairman.   

The following presentations from the meetings are available to download:

[media-downloader media_id=”4571″ texts=”Presentation on Activity-based budgeting, given by Mr. Michael Mann, EU Consultant “](presentation to  the Council);

[media-downloader media_id=”4575″ texts=”Presentation on the new Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) funding policy, given by Dr. Parvindar Singh, Managing Director a.i. of the Common Fund for Commodities”] (presentation to the Council);

[media-downloader media_id=”4562″ texts=”Presentation on Sustainable Certification given by Mr. Christopher Wunderlich, Co-ordinator of the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS)”] (presented to the Economics Committee);

National Cocoa Development Plan presentations to the Consultative Board on the World Cocoa Economy, given by the Governments of

• Côte d’Ivoire (2QC Programme and PPPP Programme),
• Ecuador,
• Ghana (National Cocoa Platform and National Cocoa Plan),
• Germany,
• and the Netherlands.

London, 30 August 2013–The International Cocoa Organization today releases its revised forecasts for the current 2012/2013 cocoa year and revised estimates for 2011/2012 of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans, summarized below.  The data published in Issue No. 3 – Volume XXXIX – Cocoa year 2012/2013 of the Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, reflect the most recent information available to the Secretariat as at the beginning of August 2013.

Summary of revised estimates and forecasts

 

Cocoa year (Oct-Sep)	2011/2012	2012/2013		Year-on-year change
	Revised estimates	Previous forecasts a/	Revised forecasts
	(thousand tonnes)				(Per cent)
World production	4 082	3 967	3 986	– 96	– 2.4%
World grindings	3 954	3 987	3 998	+ 44	+ 1.1%
Surplus/deficit b/	+ 87	– 60	– 52
End-of-season stocks	1 836	1 773	1 784	– 52	– 2.8%
Stocks/Grindings ratio	46.4%	44.5%	44.6%

Notes:
a/   Forecasts published in Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XXXIX – No. 2 – Cocoa year 2012/2013
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 2012/2013 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, it 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 April-June quarter of 2013.

Statistical information on trade in cocoa beans, cocoa products and chocolate, by country and by region, published in this edition, covers annual data from 2009/2010 to 2011/2012 and quarterly statistics for the period April-June 2011 to October-December 2012. 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 2003/2004 to 2011/2012 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

The ICCO has published a full report on the International Workshop on Cocoa Certification, held in Douala, Cameroon in June.

The report, [media-downloader media_id=”3908″ texts=”which can be downloaded here”], includes a summary of the Workshop’s themes, proceedings and outcome, along with its recommendations, a statement by co-organizer the United Nations Forum on Sustainable Standards, a summary of the vision from key stakeholders participating at the Workshop, a fully updated programme and a list of participants.

The Workshop, which was held at the Hotel Sawa in Douala, was co-organized by Cameroon’s Ministry of Commerce and the Office National du Café et du Cacao (ONCC). It was kindly sponsored by the Government of Cameroon, the UNFSS, the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), Hershey, Mondelēz International and Mars Chocolate.

Pictured: The trade and industry perspective panel at the International Workshop on Cocoa Certification in Douala