Ghana, the world’s number two cocoa producer, has sold nearly 200,000 tonnes of cocoa for the 2020/21 season, with prices including a new premium to support farmers, the Chief Executive Officer of Cocobod has said.

Ghana and top producer Ivory Coast announced in July that all cocoa purchases for the 2020/21 season must include a Living Income Differential (LID) of $400 a tonne in a bid to tackle pervasive farmer poverty.

The move was a major overhaul of how global cocoa was priced and buyers initially responded cautiously, with only a few deals concluded in the period immediately following the announcement.

“So far everything is running on course,” Joseph Boahen Aidoo, the CEO of Cocobod, said on the sidelines of an investment conference in Johannesburg.

“I’ve already indicated ... that the LID has come to stay. So you have to pay. The buyers, the processors, the manufacturers, the brand companies are in tune with it,” he said.

Aidoo said Ghana was expecting to sell forward around 650,000 tonnes of next season’s crop.

Singapore-based food group Olam agreed to purchase 100,000 tonnes of cocoa export contracts from Ivory Coast in a deal last month, the regulator there said. The deal was an indication that industry players were overcoming their early misgivings about the premium.