cocoa – Page 19 – Michael Niemann

April 1, 2009

The Toledo Cocoa Growers Association

I’m finally back from a wonderful visit to the Toledo Cocoa Growers Association (TCGA) in Punta Gorda, Belize. The name may not say much to most chocolate lovers, but it this cooperative that provides the beans for Green & Black’s Maya Gold chocolate bar. It was one of the earliest cooperatives certified for fairtrade cocoa.

The TCGA has developed into a viable organization, despite its troubles beginnings in the mid-1980s. It was founded in response to the Hershey-Hummingbird project, an attempt to restart cocoa production in Belize. When cocoa prices collapsed in the early 1990s, Hershey abandonned the project and left the farmers holding the bag.

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March 19, 2009

Cocoa Processing Accelerates in Ghana

The Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) of Ghana posted a large increase in revenue. According to an article in the UK’s Guardian, the CPC will increase its revenue fivefold from $42.5 million to $208 million. CPC’s director Richard Amarh Tetteh indicated that total tonnage processed will amount to 64,500 tons for the current cocoa year.
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March 16, 2009

Ghana to Borrow $1.2 billion for Next Season’s Crop

Bloomberg News reported today that Ghana’s COCOBOD will seek a $1.2 billion loan to finance the cocoa purchase for the next season. That amount represents a 20% increase over the amount secured for the current season. Clearly, the COCOBOD is optimistic that Ghanian farmers will reach their production goal for the 2009/2010 season. During the current season, the board has bought 530,000 tons, about 120,000 tons less than planned for.
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March 4, 2009

Dairy Milk Chocolate to go Fairtrade

Cadbury, the British chocolate maker, has announced that it will pursue fairtrade certification for Dairy Milk, its best-selling chocolate bar. Cadbury and the Fairtrade Foundation, the British arm of the the global fairtrade movement announced yesterday that the certification will be achieved by the Summer of 2009.

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March 2, 2009

Cocoa Grindings to Fall by 3 Percent this Year

According to an item in Marketwatch, Fortis Bank reports that world cocoa grindings will decline by 3 percent in 2009. Cocoa grindings, as I explained in another post, are a good indicator of future cocoa demand. Coupled with reports that cocoa deliveries in West Africa are improving, that news has already send cocoa prices lower on the NY futures market.

Despite the decline in demand for cocoa, Fortis nevertheless predicts a shortfall of 45,000 tons of cocoa, the same amount predicted by the ICCO over a month ago. In other words, there are sufficient stocks to cover the shortfall.

A more interesting tidbit was the reference to the collapse of the price premium commanded by top quality cocoa. Fortis takes this to signal a decline in the demand for premium chocolate.