IVORY COAST – In Côte d’Ivoire, all cocoa produced will be traceable from the farmer’s field to the exporters’ factory from the 2023/2024 season.
The announcement was made by Yves Brahima Koné, director of the Coffee-Cocoa Council (CCC) on the sidelines of the Forum of the European Cocoa Association (ECA) held in Rome. According to the official, the initiative is part of the many efforts implemented by the executive to fight against deforestation in the cocoa sector.
It comes in a context where the European Commission (EC) is expected to adopt in 2023, a law aimed at preventing the import of commodities linked to deforestation by requiring companies to provide proof that their supply chains are not involved in destruction of forests.
This new regulation targets in particular importers of soya, beef, palm oil, timber, cocoa and coffee in the EU. By setting the 2023/2024 campaign as the deadline, the authorities intend to upgrade to preserve this outlet, which is the main destination for Ivorian cocoa, accounting for more than 50% of shipments in value.
It should be noted that as part of its traceability efforts, the CCC will be able to rely on the European Cocoa Association (ECA) and the European Association of Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries (CAOBISCO).
These organizations have recently offered to share data from their members’ direct supply chain farms with Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana to help ensure products are deforestation-free when they enter the market. unique to the EU.
As a reminder, Côte d’Ivoire sells in advance through electronic auctions, 70 to 80% of its overall harvest in order to take advantage of any increases in world prices. The CCC sold export contracts on September 9 for a total of 25,000 tons of cocoa for the 2023/2024 campaign.
Since 2020/2021, Côte d’Ivoire applies a premium of US$400 on each ton of cocoa sold, and in 2021 shipped cocoa and derivative products for more than US$6 billion according to data compiled on the Trade Map platform.
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