Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has told Citi Business News its revenue target for cocoa exports for the 2014/15 crop season will be met.
[contextly_sidebar id=”kDCFRCLcWt2OEqXexlnOauZeBrxfO7zp”]According to COCOBOD the poor cocoa harvest in Ghana is driving up the price of the commodity on global markets.
Currently the price of cocoa on the world market per tonne as at yesterday June 9, 2015 was 3,159 dollars.
COCOBOD’s comment comes at a time when the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) has lowered government of Ghana’s harvest projection for the main crop season attributing the drop to fatigue of the cocoa trees and weather patterns.
The ICCO has dropped Ghana’s yield for the 2014/15 crop season by about 20% from some 900,000 tonnes to about 700,000 tonnes.
But Speaking to Citi Business News Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Finance and Administration at COCOBOD Miriam Okwabi said the rising price of cocoa on the world market would compensate for the drop in the projected yields.
“Cocoa revenue is determined by not only production but the price on the world market as well and COCOBOD determine the price of cocoa annually. If this year’s revenue is lower we can say that all stakeholders will be hit by the shortfall in the revenue as well. But in this particular case the possible lower figures that we are to record has triggered high prices on the international market and COCOBOD sells forward and we are taking advantage of the high price for next year so stakeholders will be compensated by the higher prices that will be realized this year for the next crop season.”
Deputy chief executive in charge of finance and administration at COCOBOD Miriam Okwabi told Citi Business News that the cocoa crop season for several years have been an up and down process where in some years, production goes up and other years prices down intimating that where production goes down it is compensated for by higher prices and vice versa.
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By: Norvan Acquah – Hayford/citifmonline.com/Ghana
