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.
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More Bonuses for Ghanaian Cocoa Farmers
COCOBOD, the Ghanaian cocoa board, has announced another round of bonuses for cocoa farmers. This time, the total bonus amounts to GH¢25,369,862.50 ($17,887,263). That translates to $1.76 per bag of cocoa. As usual, the monies will be distributed to the 26 licensed buying companies which will then distribute funds to the farmers on the basis of their past deliveries. Also as usual, the COCOBOD advised the LBCs not to pocket the money.
Cameroon Farmers Hoard Cocoa, Get Higher Prices
Reuters reports that Cameroonian farmers have held back some of their cocoa from the market in order to push prices higher. As a result, prices have increased from CFAF1,150 ($2.66) per kilo in October to CFAF1,375 ($3,18) per kilo in November.
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Indonesia Contemplates Export Tax on Cocoa
It’s the age old story that pits local processors against exporters. The Indonesian Cocoa Processing Association can’t get enough cocoa to keeps its members busy. Global demand (and global prices) are diverting local cocoa away from the processors. So they want 5 percent export tax on cocoa to provide an incentive for cocoa producers to sell their beans locally.
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