Brazil's Cocoa Bean Receipts Jump 63% in H1 2026, but Grinding Capacity Lags
Brazil's cocoa bean receipts rose 63.4% to 95,108 tonnes in H1 2026, but industrial grinding grew only 3.6%, leaving processors below pre-crisis output. Bean imports fell 57.1% and Brazil recorded zero imports in Q2 for the first time in four years, while derivative exports dropped 7%.
Bean Supply Rebounds After Years of Scarcity
Brazil's cocoa supply chain is showing signs of relief after two consecutive years of severe shortages and record global prices. According to data compiled by SindiDados – Campos Consultores and released by the National Association of Cocoa Processing Industries (AIPC), cocoa bean receipts totaled 95,108 tonnes in the first half of 2026, a 63.4% jump from the same period in 2025. The volume brings Brazil close to levels last seen before the 2023 supply crisis. The recovery accelerated in the second quarter, when receipts climbed 64.5% year-on-year.
Industrial Grinding Fails to Keep Pace
Despite the strong rebound in raw material availability, Brazil's processing industry is moving at a much slower pace. National grinding totaled 101,426 tonnes in H1 2026, up just 3.6% from a year earlier — and still 19.8% below the level recorded in the first half of 2023. The gap between the 63.4% increase in bean supply and the 3.6% rise in grinding shows that the larger volume of available cocoa has not yet translated into a proportional increase in consumption of derivatives such as butter, powder and liquor.
“Producing more cocoa is only the first step. The chain is strengthened when that production is turned into higher value-added products. Until that happens, part of the gains from the improved harvest will fail to convert into income, jobs and competitiveness for the sector,” said Anna Paula Losi, executive president of AIPC.
The slower industrial activity also weighed on trade. Brazilian exports of cocoa derivatives totaled 26,739 tonnes in H1 2026, down 7% from the first half of 2025. Argentina remained Brazil's main export market, absorbing 45% of shipped volume, followed by the United States (19%) and Chile (9%).
Bean Imports Collapse as Domestic Output Rises
With more domestic beans reaching factories, Brazil's reliance on imported cocoa fell sharply. The country imported 18,100 tonnes of beans in H1 2026, the lowest volume in the recent series and a 57.1% drop from a year earlier. The most striking figure came in the second quarter: for the first time in four years, Brazil imported no cocoa beans at all between April and June. AIPC cautioned, however, that the figure does not signal structural self-sufficiency, but rather a temporary result of strong domestic supply combined with still-moderate industrial grinding.
Global Market Remains Volatile
Globally, consultancy StoneX said the cocoa market operated under strong volatility in the first half of 2026. Bean futures fluctuated between $3,500 and $5,500 per tonne in the second quarter — well below the historic peaks of 2024/2025 but still elevated by historical standards. The main relief came from West Africa, where Ivory Coast revised its crop estimate upward, adding 260,000 tonnes to the market and narrowing the global deficit accumulated from previous cycles.
That optimism is tempered by weather risk: meteorologists point to a high probability of a strong El Niño developing later in the year. El Niño has historically triggered severe droughts in Brazil and Indonesia and crop losses in West Africa, keeping a risk premium embedded in international quotes for the 2026/2027 cycle. On the demand side, recovery is expected to be slow, as many manufacturers reformulated recipes or adopted alternative fats during the peak of the price crisis, prolonging the impact on global grinding.
