Ghana has lost over a third of its 2023/24 cocoa output to smuggling, as low local prices and payment delays push some farmers to sell to sophisticated trafficking rings, a top official of the cocoa marketing board (Cocobod) said.
According to the report by the Ghanaian Times on Tuesday, the Cocobod official told Reuters that poor harvests in Ghana and Ivory Coast, the world’s second largest and largest producers, have pushed markets into a four-year supply deficit, driving up global cocoa and chocolate prices this year.
But cocoa fetches more in Ivory Coast and Togo than in Ghana because of a more stable CFA franc currency and less regulated sector.
Ghana had produced 429,323 metric tons of cocoa by the end of June from the start of the season in September, less than 55 per cent of the average at the same point in previous seasons and putting 2023/24 output on track for its biggest fall in more than two decades.
GIK/APA
