Climate change will affect many industries, but few more than cocoa. While farmers on the ground struggle with fluctuating climatic conditions changing working practices, large companies grapple with environmental regulation.
Recent bad weather in West Africa has threatened cocoa production resulting in record-high prices for the commodity on the Intercontinental Exchange in London.
Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC), Cote d’Ivoire’s cocoa regulator, has issued a statement that it expects the country’s cocoa exporters to fulfill their contracts despite supply chain issues at ports.
Hershey has partnered with its supplier Cargill to bring its cocoa sustainability program to the Côte d’Ivoire, helping farmers achieve UTZ certification.
The chocolate and cocoa industry has pledged $3m in new funds to global cocoa sustainability as major firms including Mondelez, Hershey and Cargill talk about their new initiatives.
Cocoa processing is increasingly moving to origin countries, particularly those in regions where chocolate consumption is rising such as Brazil and Indonesia, according to ADM Cocoa’s head of innovation.
Hershey has called attacks on its text messaging tips for farmers program CocoaLink “disingenuous” after a group of NGOs questioned the effectiveness of the project.
The industry has pledged $10m in new funds since 2010 to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, but a newly released report says the job is far from over.
Oxfam has called on the three biggest chocolate manufacturers to conduct independent audits on conditions for women on cocoa farms supplying their factories after finding evidence of unequal pay, discrimination and hunger.
The chocolate industry is behind in tackling some cocoa supply issues and must work more closely to avert shortages, according to Mars’ head of sustainability.
Global confectionery supplier Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is injecting US$4.4m (€3m) into its Ivory Coast cocoa programme as the country tries to recover from its recent civil turmoil and an EU ban on one of the region’s most important exports.
Confectionery giant Mars predicts a major cocoa shortage by 2020 and reveals harmonization of global cocoa certification programmes to ensure meaningful income hikes for farmers is one of its sustainable cocoa project goals.
Delivery of cocoa bean supplies to ports in the Ivory Coast appears to be unaffected by the recent political turmoil following last month’s election in the West African country.
Rabobank has warned that cocoa prices will respond if there is a return to civil war in the Ivory Coast as this could impede cocoa exports onto the world market.
Participation in ADM’s cocoa growing certification programme - Serap - has tripled since its implementation and it has provided almost 49,000 metric tonnes of sustainable cocoa in the period, said the cocoa processor as it conducts a review of the programme...
Cargill said its planned investment of $5m over the next three years in sustainable cocoa initiatives will help address the worst forms of child labour in cocoa growing communities in the Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Opting for fair trade cocoa could be one way for food firms to protect themselves against price volatility for the commodity, according to an industry analyst.
Cocoa fell to a three month low in London on signs that supplies in the world’s biggest producer countries would be boosted by the better crop husbandry initiated over the past three years.
Retention of Ghana produced cocoa on the US Department of Labor’s list of goods produced by child or forced labour could hinder efforts to eliminate the practice, claims a senior politician of the major cocoa supplying country.
Cadbury today launched a fund to aid its cocoa suppliers
in Ghana, after research suggested that average production in
the region is now 40 per cent lower than the potential yield.
The International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) has revised its gloomy
cocoa estimate of a 5,000 tonne deficit to predict a global surplus
of 80,000 tonnes of cocoa in the coming year, assuring
manufacturers of a steady supply.
Cote d'Ivoire cocoa growers have downed tools over pay
disagreements, beginning a strike which could dramatically cut
supplies to chocolate manufacturers.
Leading merchant of cocoa, sugar and coffee ED&F Man has
launched Corigins, a US-based supplier offering traceable, quality
sugar and cocoa ingredients, Philippa Nuttall reports.
Prices remain steady for cocoa, despite news that the start of the
new cocoa harvesting season from the world's biggest producer,
Ivory Coast, has been delayed due to a dispute.
US agri-giant Cargill has carved a deeper position in the European
chocolate market after Swiss firm Nestlé sold two cocoa processing
activities to the acquisitive private company.
