Major cocoa facilities in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have stopped or reduced production because they cannot afford to purchase beans, the Western media reported, citing four trade sources. As a result, global chocolate prices are expected to rise significantly.
Transcao, a state-owned bean processor in Cote d’Ivoire, has announced that it had stopped purchasing beans due to the high price, adding that it is so far continuing its operations by processing beans from its existing stock, according to the report. More major state-run facilities may be shortly shut down.
In Ghana, most of the country’s eight cocoa processing plants have been forced to suspend work multiple times for several weeks at a time since the start of the cocoa season in October.