Cocoa prices exceed $10,000 per tonne for first time ever
Exchange prices for cocoa beans exceeded $10,000 per tonne for the first time in trading history, TASS reports
According to South African radio station SABC, during March 26th, the price per tonne of cocoa beans reached $10,080 on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), reflecting a remarkable 138 percent increase in cocoa prices over the course of the year.
Experts are confident that price dynamics are supported by reports of large losses in the cocoa bean harvest from the world’s two leading producers: Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. This caused a further increase in prices for chocolate and entire groups of confectionery products. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana account for almost 60 percent of the world’s cocoa production.
According to estimates by the International Cocoa Organisation, headquartered in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), in the current agricultural year (2023-2024), global production of cocoa beans will drop by 11 percent compared to the previous period to 4.45 million tonnes. Thus, for the third consecutive year, the world cocoa bean market will be in deficit. The deficit of cocoa beans in the world market in 2024 will be 375,000 tonnes by September, compared to 74,000 a year earlier.
