Cocoa Prices Crash to $3,000, Stranding $487 Million of Beans in Ivory Coast
Updated
Updated · DW (English) · Jul 1
Cocoa Prices Crash to $3,000, Stranding $487 Million of Beans in Ivory Coast
3 articles · Updated · DW (English) · Jul 1
Summary
$3,000-per-ton cocoa has left about 2.5 million West African smallholders facing acute hardship after prices fell more than 75% from nearly $13,000 in 2024.
Better harvest forecasts, traders unwinding contracts, weaker chocolate demand after last year's spike, and a stronger US dollar combined to drive the collapse, according to the report.
In Ivory Coast and Ghana, exporters and middlemen have cut purchases or delayed payments, leaving beans stuck at ports and on farms and farmers short of cash for food, medicine, labor and school fees.
Ivory Coast alone has more than $487 million in unsold cocoa, while a farmers' union says over 700,000 metric tons are stranded as traders resist government-set pricing terms.
The slump has intensified calls for structural reform, from stronger pricing protections and local processing to tougher EU-linked human-rights and deforestation rules across the cocoa supply chain.
Cocoa prices have crashed, yet your chocolate costs more. Who is pocketing the difference?
Can a new EU law meant to help cocoa farmers actually end up destroying their livelihoods?
West Africa grows most of the world's cocoa. Why can't it build its own chocolate empire?
The $487 Million Cocoa Crash: How the 2025–2026 Price Collapse Reshaped West Africa and the Global Chocolate Industry
Overview
From late 2024 to mid-2026, the West African cocoa sector faced a severe crisis as international prices collapsed and unsold cocoa beans piled up. This left countless farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast struggling with financial hardship, as middlemen stopped buying cocoa and payments were delayed for months. Many farmers, unable to pay workers or sell their harvests, saw their crops spoil and their families suffer, with children missing school due to unpaid fees. The crisis was driven by a rebound in supply, weak global demand, and slow policy responses, forcing governments to lower farmgate prices and pushing many farmers deeper into poverty.