Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire Unite Cocoa Pricing to Curb Smuggling and Strengthen Global Power
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Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire have agreed to align cocoa producer pricing policies from the 2026/2027 season, as the world's two largest cocoa growers seek to reduce smuggling, stabilise farmer incomes and strengthen their bargaining power with global buyers. The two countries reached the deal in Abidjan on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, during the 7th Meeting of the Steering Committee of the Côte d'Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative, held ahead of a high-level summit on the future of the cocoa economy.
The agreement includes coordinated price setting, data sharing, and aligning crop year calendars starting with the 2026/2027 season. The session brought together Ghana's Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, and Côte d'Ivoire's Minister of Agriculture, Bruno Nabagné Koné, as both countries pushed for closer coordination in a market they jointly dominate.
"The two countries agreed to harmonise farm gate prices through some measures," Dr Forson said while presenting the committee's conclusions. The move follows years of pressure over how cocoa wealth is shared between farmers, governments, traders and global chocolate companies.
In 2019, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire introduced the Living Income Differential, a $400-per-tonne premium on cocoa sales, to raise farmer incomes and give both countries more leverage in price negotiations. However, the policy produced mixed results, as buyer discounts eroded part of the premium while many farmers still faced low earnings, delayed payments and rising costs.
Since 2020, cocoa output has weakened in both countries, with Côte d'Ivoire's production falling from about 2.25 million tonnes in 2020/2021 to about 2.12 million tonnes in 2021/2022. It recovered to about 2.24 million tonnes in 2022/2023, before dropping to about 1.67 million tonnes in 2023/2024, as poor weather, disease and ageing farms weighed on yields.
Ghana recorded a sharper decline, producing about 1.05 million tonnes in 2020/2021, before output fell to about 683,000 tonnes in 2021/2022 and 654,000 tonnes in 2022/2023. It dropped further to about 530,000 tonnes in 2023/2024, marking its lowest level in decades and raising concerns about the resilience of its cocoa sector.
The decline has exposed long-running weaknesses in West Africa's cocoa industry, with Ghana battling swollen shoot disease, ageing trees, illegal gold mining in cocoa-growing areas, smuggling and financing problems at its cocoa regulator. Côte d'Ivoire has also faced weather shocks, disease and price volatility, despite remaining the world's largest cocoa producer.
Even as harvests weakened, higher global cocoa prices helped lift export earnings across the sector. Ghana's cocoa exports generated about $1.94 billion in 2024, before rising to about $3.86 billion in 2025, according to Bank of Ghana data. Côte d'Ivoire has also gained from stronger prices, with exports reaching about $5.06 billion in 2021, before falling to about $4.47 billion in 2022.
The latest deal seeks to narrow producer price gaps that have encouraged illegal cross-border trade between the two countries. When one country pays farmers more than the other, cocoa often moves across borders outside official channels, reducing export revenue, distorting production data and weakening market planning.
A technical task force made up of experts from both countries will design a price coordination framework and periodically review producer prices. The cocoa year will run from September 1 to August 31, beginning with the 2026/2027 marketing season, reaffirming commitment to long-term coordination of cocoa price management and marketing.
