Ivory Coast Cocoa Crisis: Export Struggles Amid Falling Global Prices

In Ivory Coast's Duekoue town, unsold cocoa bags stack high as exporters resist government-set prices, citing a drop in global rates. Cooperative leader Sekou Dagnogo faces mounting debts to farmers, pinning hopes on a regulator's intervention to purchase surplus cocoa and stabilize the situation.

Unsold cocoa bags in Ivory Coast are piling high due to a significant fall in global prices, posing a major challenge for exporters and cooperatives who are struggling to adhere to government-set farmgate prices of 2,800 CFA francs per kg. The global decline in prices has made cocoa from the world's top producer unattractive, exacerbating the crisis.

Farmers like Sekou Dagnogo now face mounting debts as they rely heavily on export sales to remain afloat. With stock accumulating and no immediate sales, the pressure builds for interventions to resolve the stalemate. Dagnogo, whose cooperative is in western Duekoue town, hopes for a rescue plan from the Coffee and Cocoa Council regulator to avert potential financial disaster.

The regulator had previously launched a programme to purchase unsold cocoa, but farmers like Frederic Kouassi Kouassi are disheartened by offers below mandated prices, facing a tough choice compounded by the urgent need to offload their stock before the next crop season begins.

(With inputs from agencies.)