Ghana and Ivory Coast Open the Cocoa Season Far Apart
The world's two biggest cocoa growers have set very different farmgate prices, and the gap matters well beyond West Africa.
The 2026/27 cocoa season is under way in West Africa, and the two countries that grow most of the world's beans have taken different paths on price.
Ivory Coast kept its guaranteed farmgate price at 1,200 CFA francs per kilo, about $2.12, when the main crop opened on 1 September, Reuters reported. Agriculture Minister Bruno Koné announced the figure. A year ago the country paid a record 2,800 francs. It cut the price to 1,200 in March, after world cocoa prices fell sharply from their record highs, and has now kept it there. The government cited volatile markets and the fact that part of the crop had already been sold forward.
Ghana went the other way. Its cocoa board, COCOBOD, set a producer price of 42,400 cedis per tonne, about $3.65 a kilo, for a season that began on 25 September. That is a modest rise from the reduced price it set in February. Under a new law, Ghanaian farmers are guaranteed at least 70 percent of the crop's export value. This season the board set their share at 71.18 percent.
Why the gap matters
Ghanaian farmers are now paid roughly three-quarters more than their neighbors across the border. Analysts at Ecofin Agency note that this could revive smuggling of Ivorian beans into Ghana, a problem COCOBOD raised in April. Both countries are tightening traceability. Ghana says its tracking system now covers every growing area, and Ivory Coast has made a producer card compulsory for buying and selling cocoa.
For chocolate makers and anyone who buys fine chocolate, the numbers are a reminder of how much the trade has swung. London futures fell to about £2,100 a tonne in early March, then climbed back above £4,800 by September. Farmers' incomes, the steadiness of supply and the price of a good bar all depend on what happens at these borders.
Sources: Reuters, Ecofin Agency.
