Côte d’Ivoire increases cocoa prices in response to President Trump’s tariffs
Though the country does not have the ability to set the price for cocoa, it could raise export taxes on cocoa to earn more revenue.
Côte d’Ivoire – Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Agriculture has cautioned that it will increase its cocoa export prices if the tariffs proposed by USA President Donald Trump go into effect.
The Trump administration announced tariffs of 21%, the highest in West Africa, on Côte d’Ivoire as part of higher targeted duties on dozens of countries.
Though the President announced he was pausing them for 90 days, Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s biggest cocoa producer, said it would take measures to make the product more expensive if tariffs were imposed.
Speaking to reporters, the Minister of Agriculture, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, said his country wanted Washington to reconsider the tariffs.
“When you tax the product that we export to your country, we will increase the price of cocoa, and that will have repercussions on the price to the consumer,” Kouassi said.
According to the Coffee and Cocoa Council data, Côte d’Ivoire exports 200,000 and 300,000 metric tons of cocoa to the USA each year.
Kouassi added that Côte d’Ivoire would seek stronger ties with the European Union to ensure that if cocoa products were not accepted in the USA, the EU could recover all of them.
Cocoa prices to hike as President Trump announces 10% tariffs
The news comes as the cocoa industry is expected to increase its prices after Donald Trump, President of the United States, announced a universal minimum tariff of 10% on all goods imported to the USA.
The Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s top cocoa bean suppliers, were slapped with 21% and 10% retaliatory tariffs on all imports brought into the USA.
According to the USA Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service, the United States is the world’s leading importer of chocolate and cocoa products, importing nearly US$4 billion in 2023.
Since cocoa beans require a tropical climate to grow, the United States must import nearly all cocoa it needs to meet domestic demand.
However, Hawaii is the only USA state capable of growing the crop, but its production capacity falls below USA manufacturers’ requirements.
Additional levies apply to finished chocolate products from leading European producers: 20% for EU nations, 31% for Swiss chocolate, and 10% for chocolate from the United Kingdom.
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