I am very disappointed but I should have expected it. Yesterday, in a joint statement with the Chocolate Industry, Senator Harkin and Congressman Engel basically ratified the very limited efforts of the industry to combat child labor in the cocoa sector. So, for all practical purposes, the crucial part of the 2001 Harkin-Engel protocol, that the industry establish a “credible, mutually acceptable, voluntary, industry-wide standards of public certification, consistent with applicable federal law, that cocoa beans and their derivative products have been grown and/or processed without any of the worst forms of child labor” is dead. Continue reading “A Sad Day for the Children of Cocoa Farmers”
Côte d’Ivoire on track to meet July 1 deadline?
Today, Reuters South Africa reports that the Côte d’Ivoire is set to meet the July 1 deadline to certify that its cocoa beans are produced without the worst forms of child labor. Behind the headlines, though, things look a little bleaker. Congressman Engel is quoted in an AFP article that only 50% of the cocoa producing regions will eliminate the worst forms of child labor in their production of cocoa. I doubt even that will be achieved. The Payson Institute report I mentioned earlier shows that the chocolate industry does not have in place anything that looks like certification scheme. It looks like all the players will simply declare compliance on July 1. There will be some remarks about the difficulty of assessing the magnitude of the problem. And after that, everybody will go back to business as usual. The farmers, of course, will be no better off.
March cocoa futures NY: $2151
Côte d’Ivoire Cocoa Spot Price: $2463
