Côte d’Ivoire cocoa forum reviews unsold stocks after farmgate price cut

Cocoa stakeholders gather in Duékoué

Côte d’Ivoire’s Agricultural Interprofessional Organization for Coffee and Cocoa, known as OIA Café-Cacao, is holding a national day for industry participants in Duékoué, in the west of the country. The meeting follows several months of tension in the cocoa sector and comes more than three months after the start of the mid-crop season.

At a press conference on July 20, the organization said conditions were gradually returning to normal, RFI reported. The discussion is taking place after the farmgate cocoa price fell from 2,800 CFA francs per kilogram during the main crop to 1,200 CFA francs for the mid-crop. That gap has become central to disputes over remaining beans and the quality category under which they should be purchased.

Allocation eases part of the stock pressure

OIA Café-Cacao spokesperson Aubin Blondé Doua said the allocation of 23,000 tonnes of cocoa to the organization had helped facilitate the disposal of residual main-crop stocks. According to him, the measure reduced difficulties faced by some producers following interruptions in the movement and sale of beans.

The organization also links part of the blockage to failures by some holders of bills of lading, the documents used to export cocoa beans. More than 150 bills of lading are reportedly affected, with the corresponding volumes allegedly not delivered in line with prior commitments. The allegations put contract execution and bean classification at the center of the sector’s review.

Bean quality determines the applicable price

Doua said main-crop beans typically count between 95 and 100 beans per 100 grams. Lots reaching 130 or 135 beans per 100 grams fall into the mid-crop category, he said, and therefore cannot be purchased at the main-crop price of 2,800 CFA francs per kilogram. He maintained that suppliers who delivered beans meeting main-crop specifications were paid at that rate.

Some cooperatives, however, say they still hold unsold main-crop stocks. A trade-union federation official told RFI that many member cooperatives had sold their cocoa for 1,200 CFA francs per kilogram, accepting the mid-crop price to recover at least part of their money instead of risking a total loss. OIA Café-Cacao described such situations as isolated cases and said it remained in talks with the industry regulator, the Coffee and Cocoa Council, to find a solution.

Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana coordinate marketing

The domestic review also follows a joint initiative by Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, which together account for 60% of global cocoa production. On June 16, 2026, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama announced plans to harmonize cocoa prices and align their marketing calendars.

Under the arrangement, Côte d’Ivoire’s Coffee and Cocoa Council and Ghana’s Cocobod are to consult each other when setting prices. The two countries’ cocoa marketing seasons will also begin simultaneously on September 1. The measures are intended as a coordinated response to highly volatile world prices, while the Duékoué forum addresses the immediate operational questions of stocks, documentation, quality and producer payments inside Côte d’Ivoire.