Audio By Carbonatix
Cocoa’s shortage is set to deepen further this season amid persistent production challenges from poor weather and disease.
Demand will exceed production by 462,000 metric tons, the International Cocoa Organization said in its third estimate for the current year that started in October. That figure is 5.2% more than the organization’s May forecast of a 439,000-ton deficit, which itself was a larger shortfall than its original outlook in February.
Global supply remains low as a result of “adverse weather conditions, aged trees, pests and diseases that affected production in major cocoa areas during the season under review,” the ICCO said in a Friday report.
Production for the season is seen at 4.33 million tons, 2.9% below ICCO’s earlier estimate, while grindings are expected to be 2.1% lower at 4.75 million tons.
New York futures are up around 80% this year as poor harvests in West Africa curbed supplies, though prices have pared back from record highs. The region’s cocoa industry is still grappling with lasting issues like crop disease, and new trees take at least three years to reach fruit-bearing maturity. That’s constraining how quickly production can ramp up to ease the shortage.
Latest Stories
-
Ashanti Region needs more mental health specialists – Mental Health Authority
44 seconds -
Daily Insight for CEOs: Strengthening middle management effectiveness
2 minutes -
El-Wak disaster: Government let down the youth – Afenyo-Markin
10 minutes -
Borla Taxi and Tricycle Association swears in new executives to boost waste management
11 minutes -
Gospel music icon Ron Kenoly dies at 81
16 minutes -
‘We can’t continue to name our premier international gateway after those who overthrew Nkrumah’ – Armah-Kofi Buah
25 minutes -
Government has failed in galamsey fight – Minority Leader
28 minutes -
Fisherfolk Sustainability Network donates Life Jackets to coastal communities
32 minutes -
NPP Presidential Primaries: NDC can beat Bawumia any day – Mahama Ayariga
34 minutes -
Minority presses Mahama to appoint substantive Defence and Environment ministers
36 minutes -
AkwaabaFest ’26 set for March 5 to 7 at National Theatre
51 minutes -
Afenyo-Markin donates computers to GBC to boost digital operations
1 hour -
KNUST Senior Staff Association joins nationwide strike, calls on gov’t to address grievances
1 hour -
Black Star Experience goes beyond Year of Return – Edward Boafo Owusu
1 hour -
Speaker moves to probe post-Dec. 7 public sector workers’ dismissal
1 hour
