My first post in the new year reports some good news for Ghanaian cocoa farmers. On January 8, Ghana’s Cocoa Board increased producer prices from G¢2208 ($1,530) to G¢2400 (1,663) per ton.
A Child Labor Update
In late September, the Payson Center at Tulane University released its third annual oversight report on efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor (WFCL) in the cocoa sectors of Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire. Overall, the report takes a positive point of view. But hidden in various parts of the report remain serious questions as to the efficacy of the chocolate industry’s engagement with the Harkin Engel Protocol process. Continue reading “A Child Labor Update”
UK’s Kit Kat to go Fairtrade
Nestlé, the global food giant, announced that, starting in 2010, its Kit Kat bar in the UK will be made with fairtrade chocolate. In doing so, Nestlé is following the example set by Cadbury earlier this year. According to the BBC, Nestlé sells about 1 billion Kit Kats a year in the UK. The beneficiaries of this move will be the cocoa farmers in the Côte d’Ivoire who stand to receive hundreds of thousands pounds as a result of the decision as estimated by Harriet Lamb of the UK’s Fairtrade Foundation.
The Sharks are Circling Cadbury
Ok, I’ve been rather quiet on the Cadbury story since it first broke some weeks ago. Here’s a quick recap. Kraft Foods made a takeover bid for Cadbury offering some $17 billion for the British company. Cadbury was quick to reject the offer as too low and its CEO seemed eager to preserve the company as an independent chocolate maker (or maybe he was just trying to get Kraft to sweeten the pot). Then Kraft made it official and made a hostile bid, trying to lure Cadbury’s shareholders away from management. The Hershey’s got into the game quickly joined by Ferrero (you know, the makers of Nutella). Rumors flew but nothing really happened.
Ivorian Harvest Much Better Than Expected, So Far…
News of the decline of Ivorian cocoa production might be premature. I have reported earlier that a consensus estimate put Ivorian output for the current cocoa year at 1-1.15 million tons, quite a bit below the 1.4 million tons the country had achieved only a few years ago. But that consensus is no longer holding.
Continue reading “Ivorian Harvest Much Better Than Expected, So Far…”
