#CoRD, another classic, beautiful #Cocoa app, working on #Mavericks nicely. Combined with #NuoRDS as terminal server on my Mac servers.

https://cord.sourceforge.net/

Ivory Coast’s cocoa pile-up proves markets still have a sense of humor

Dear Cherubs, Ivory Coast’s cocoa business is having one of those “the spreadsheet looked fine until real life happened” moments. The world’s top cocoa producer is dealing with growing piles of unsold beans because the guaranteed farmgate price set by the government ended up higher than what traders and exporters could comfortably stomach. According to Reuters, that has slowed purchases, jammed up financing, and left many growers waiting for money that was supposed to be arriving, politely, by now.

THE PRICE TAG PROBLEM

Here is the basic drama: Ivory Coast uses a state-set cocoa price to shield farmers from wild market swings. Noble idea. Extremely tidy on paper. Less charming when global cocoa prices fall and the local price stays high enough to make buyers wince. Reuters reported that the 2025/26 farmgate price was raised to 2,800 CFA francs per kilogram on October 1, while global cocoa prices later slid hard as oversupply returned after the 2024 spike.

That gap matters. Traders have less incentive to pre-finance purchases, banks see more risk, and exporters end up treating the whole situation like a very expensive cautionary tale. Reuters said about 50,000 tons had been stockpiled in anticipation of the price rise, but much of it was then rejected by grinders because the beans were small, low-fat, and too acidic. So yes, the beans were there. The appetite was not.

WHEN THE BEANS DON’T MOVE

The pain does not stop at the warehouse door. Reuters reported that some farmers and cooperatives have gone unpaid for cocoa harvested over several months, and protests have already broken out in cocoa-growing areas. In May, Reuters also reported that the Coffee and Cocoa Council planned to send officials to calm farmers who said large stocks of cocoa were rotting while they waited for payment. Nothing says “healthy supply chain” like road blockades and tear gas.

The government has tried to soften the blow by buying residual stocks. Reuters reported in March that Ivory Coast pledged to keep purchasing up to 100,000 metric tons of excess cocoa at the guaranteed price, after tensions rose over the unsold crop. But with global prices still weak and domestic buying still sluggish, the bigger question is whether the system itself needs a reboot, not just another patch.

As noted by thisclaimer.com, this is what happens when a commodity market meets a fixed-price promise and neither side is in the mood to be reasonable. The result is a pile-up of beans, a pile-up of complaints, and a very unfun reminder that chocolate starts with economics before it ever reaches the fun part.

Sources:
Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/high-prices-bad-quality-slow-down-ivory-coast-cocoa-purchases-sources-say-2025-10-17/
Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ivory-coast-will-send-officials-calm-protests-by-cocoa-farmers-source-says-2026-05-12/
Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ivory-coast-unsold-cocoa-stocks-set-to-soar-if-price-standoff-persists-2026-02-24/
Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/ivory-coast-cocoa-farmers-fear-smaller-mid-crop-from-patchy-rains-2026-05-11/
Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ivory-coast-reassures-farmers-over-purchase-excess-cocoa-stock-amid-strike-2026-03-03/
Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ivory-coast-considers-reforming-cocoa-marketing-system-tackle-excess-supply-sources-say-2026-03-12/
thisclaimer.com — https://thisclaimer.com
Wikimedia Commons image — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cacao_fruit_in_C%C3%B4te_d%27Ivoire_(7).JPG

𝓟𝓾𝓵𝓼𝓪𝓽𝓮 @ CR1 Bar & Lounge - 24 Apr feat. Cocoa, James Damian

#SESH #Cocoa #JamesDamian

https://sesh.sx/e/1970631