account for two-thirds of the world's cocoa supply, but unlike oil-producing countries, they are unable to influence prices that are historically too low to meet the basic needs of small planters.
The non-governmental organization Fairtrade promoted the"living income reference price" on the basis of a study of the essential needs of planter households, plus a provision for emergencies, according to Fairtrade. It has been applied to the 2020-2021 crop, which started this month. On the stock exchanges in London and New York, cocoa contracts for 30 times global production change hands each year.In real terms, cocoa prices are just half of what they were in the 1960s, and just a quarter of the peaks they hit in the mid-1970s – the apogee of the Ivorian"economic miracle" – according to the World Bank.
"The coordination of Ivory Coast and Ghana is a very positive factor," said Patrick Poirrier, chairman of French chocolate group Cemoi and president of a producers' syndicate.Cocoa-producing nations face major obstacles, however, if they wish to exercise control over the market the same way as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has done for oil.
The lack of capacity to store cocoa, a fragile and perishable commodity, close to the site of the harvest adds difficulties near the very start of the supply chain.