KEY POINTS
- Ivory Coast cocoa production remains low due to poor weather and aging trees.
- Cocoa smuggling rises as international prices hit record highs.
- Government replanting efforts aim to improve cocoa yields in two years.
According to the country’s agricultural minister, Ivory Coast’s cocoa production for the 2024–2025 season is predicted to stay close to the unsatisfactory levels of the previous season because of persistently unfavorable weather and subpar crop conditions.
Cocoa production in Ivory Coast remains low for 2024/25 season
Last year, global prices reached all-time highs due to a dramatic drop in cocoa production in Ghana, the second-biggest producer, and Ivory Coast, the world’s largest, during the 2023–2024 season.
Regarding the scenario for 2024–2025, Agriculture Minister Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani told Reuters on Monday, “It’s the same trend,” but he added that it was too early to make a definitive prediction.
Ivory Coast is investing in replanting and agroforestry projects to combat climate change and disease that affects old cocoa trees. According to Adjoumani, these efforts should increase production potential in the next two years. At the yearly Paris farm show, he was interviewed.
Smuggling increases as cocoa prices soar globally
Increased smuggling of cocoa beans from Ivory Coast, where the fixed price for growers is still much lower despite an increase last year, has also resulted from skyrocketing global prices.
“A government crackdown has reduced the trade,” Adjoumani added, citing figures of between 100,000 and 200,000 metric tons of cocoa being illegally exported to neighboring nations like Guinea this season.
In other agricultural areas, Ivory Coast is expected to achieve rice self-sufficiency by the following year. He stated that last year’s production reached 1.5 million metric tons thanks to investments in seeds and agricultural equipment, closing the gap with domestic demand of 2.1 million metric tons.
This month’s Reuters expert poll, which predicted cocoa production at 1.8 million metric tons in 2024–2025—a modest increase from 1.76 million in 2023–2024—is consistent with Adjoumani’s prediction.
He noted that the prospects for the April-to-September mid-crop, which comes after the October-to-March main crop, had improved due to recent rainfall.
