GNV News, March 1, 2026

As global cocoa prices, which had been soaring, are now plunging sharply, the main cocoa-producing countries of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are being forced to deal with massive stocks. Cocoa prices rose to about three times their previous level in 2024, marking a steep increase. This was because the supply of cocoa could no longer keep up with demand, due to the effects of climate change and diseases affecting cocoa trees. However, from around mid-2025, cocoa prices began to fall, and as of 2026 they have returned to the levels seen before the spike. The reasons for the price decline include not only a bumper cocoa harvest in the latest season, but also a weakening of demand as companies dealing in cocoa and chocolate have run short of funds under the impact of high cocoa prices. These companies tried to offset rising business costs by raising their product prices, but consumer purchases of the now-expensive products stagnated, which in turn further weakened these companies’ demand for cocoa.

In Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, which together account for more than half of global cocoa production, cocoa is traded under a regulated system. Government-designated regulatory authorities sell most of the expected production in advance to traders, and based on these prices, producers later sell their cocoa. However, if prices fall as sharply as they have this time after contracts between regulators and traders have been signed, traders end up having to resell at low prices cocoa they bought at high prices. To avoid this, traders slow down or stop their purchasing. As a result, cocoa-producing countries are left with large stocks of unsold cocoa.

To deal with this situation, both Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana have moved, in their own ways, to cut the producer price (*) of cocoa. Côte d’Ivoire has reclassified cocoa harvested in March into a category to be traded at a lower fixed price, while Ghana has slashed the producer price itself to about two-thirds of its previous level. In addition, the government of Côte d’Ivoire is also directly purchasing cocoa from farmers. However, if the slump in prices continues, the public finances of both countries will come under increasing strain, and the livelihoods of cocoa farmers will grow even more precarious. Many cocoa farmers, even when cocoa prices were surging, could not benefit from the rise because of fixed-price trading, and they are facing severe poverty.

* The price at which producers hand over their goods to intermediaries and others. It includes not only the costs required for production, but also the producer’s profit.

Learn more about issues related to cocoa → “Chocolate: The Unreported ‘Bitter’ Reality”

Learn more about the realities of unequal trade → “Unfair Trade Rampant Around the World”

Cocoa plantation in Côte d’Ivoire (Photo: Mighty Earth / Flickr [CC BY-ND 4.0])