This is a difficult choice. “If I send my children to school and don’t bring back part of the harvest, we won’t have enough money for food. Or should I pull them out of school so we can get more cocoa and eat three meals a day?” a cocoa farmer in Côte d’Ivoire told DW.
Cocoa prices have recently fallen to around $13,000 (€11,000) per metric tonne after a historic surge in 2024. In early April 2026, the world market price temporarily fell to $3,000, a decline of more than 75% in just one year.
Low prices have a cascading effect on the approximately 2.5 million smallholder farmers who grow cocoa in West Africa.
Farmers like Firmin Coulibaly of Côte d’Ivoire are forced to sell their cocoa beans at very low prices. “They are dying in poverty, despite having productive crops. They don’t have money for medicine or food,” he told DW.
Also in Ghana, many farmers are suffering from delayed payments because middlemen are no longer buying their cocoa. “Because of the delay in payment, I don’t have money to pay the harvest workers,” said cocoa farmer Emmanuel Njor. “That’s why the crop has failed,” he told DW. When asked how long the middlemen had been withholding his payments, he replied: “For about five months.”
Be it medicines, pesticides, or paying daily wage labourers, there is a shortage of everything. “I will use a part of the money for my child’s school fees, which I have not been able to pay till now. He is sitting at home and has not been able to take exams.”
What is the reason for the fall in cocoa prices?
according to International Cocoa Organization (ICCO)Higher prices in 2024 were initially driven primarily by poor harvests in West Africa, resulting in supply shortages.
“Climate change is taking its toll on countries in the tropical belt,” said agricultural economist Tancrede Voituriez. “Many times a drought is followed by heavy rains. This leads to a decline in production,” Voituriez said. Plant diseases such as cocoa swollen shoot virus and speculation also reduced supply in markets and pushed up prices, he said.
Then the accident happened. As a better harvest was forecast, many traders sold their cocoa contracts early to make profits. At the same time, the World Bank reported that very high prices had reduced demand in the chocolate industry, as companies used less cocoa and turned to substitute products. Combined with the strong US dollar, this led to a significant decline in prices.
Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana produce about two-thirds of the world’s cocoa, but exports are concentrated in the hands of a few large corporations. Due to low prices in the world market, these companies have reduced their purchases considerably.
As a result, cocoa is piling up in ports, while many farmers are stranded with their crops. Industry observers suspect this is a deliberate strategy to put pressure on government pricing systems and force lower prices.
In Côte d’Ivoire alone, more than $487 million worth of cocoa remains unsold as traders and exporters hesitate to buy at set terms in the face of falling prices.
The Executive Director of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Wisdom Dogbe, defends the agency’s marketing strategy. COCOBOD is the government agency in Ghana that regulates the cultivation, procurement and export of cocoa. It works in collaboration with the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC), which acts as an intermediary between cocoa farmers in Ghana and international buyers.
“The sales system enabled CMC to set prices quickly and hedge against recent market declines,” Dogbey said. “85 to 90% of the 2025/26 crop had already been sold before the crisis.”
Intervention by West African cocoa producing countries
In early February, the Ghanaian government responded by reducing the government-set producer price. The Ivorian Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC) also regulates prices; In early October, it set the producer price at $4.87 per kilogram to protect farmers.
However, soon after, world market prices fell. Moussa Kone, president of the cocoa farmers union in Côte d’Ivoire, accused the regulatory authority of making strategic missteps. “They failed to sell enough cocoa in advance. Today, more than 700,000 metric tons of cocoa is stuck with farmers who don’t know what to do with it,” Kon said.
This crisis highlights a structural problem. African countries mainly export raw cocoa, while value is added abroad. “Chocolate manufacturers’ profit margins are much higher than those of traders,” Voituriez said. “Traders only earn 1% [of the profit.]”
At the same time, the decline in prices could open up new opportunities, according to Ecofin Agency, a Swiss-based media outlet that covers African economic issues.
However, Friedel Hutz-Adams of the Südwind Institute for Economics and Economism, which conducts action-oriented research on global economic issues, said there are still many structural obstacles to overcome. International markets demand a standardized taste, “which can only be achieved by blending cocoa from different regions, making local processing more difficult.”
Calls for more regulation are growing
There is increasing political pressure to regulate the sector more strictly. Regulations such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the planned EU Corporate Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) require companies to provide greater protections for the environment and human rights.
“All countries supplying the European market must stop sourcing cocoa from illegally logged forests,” Voituriez said. Chocolate companies are under pressure to change their sourcing practices. Certifications such as the Fairtrade Seal, which require high social and environmental standards, are gaining importance.
One approach is the so-called Chocolate Scorecard from the “Be Slavery Free” initiative, which annually assesses the sustainability practices of chocolate companies. On average, German companies score below international benchmarks, especially in gender equality, child labor and living wages.
The latter, in particular, remains a widespread problem – more than half of cocoa farmers surveyed do not earn a living wage. Yet the scorecard also shows that things could be better: brands like Tony’s Chocolate, Ritter Sport and Original Beans are committed to paying high cocoa prices to ensure a decent living.
According to Hutz-Adams, the situation facing producers highlights how urgently reforms are needed: over the past few years, “a price has been established that inevitably leads to massive human rights violations.”
Hutz-Adams suggested that prices should rise to at least “about $4,000” per metric ton and, above all, be “protected from falling prices” so that families could survive without resorting to child labor. Otherwise, chocolate will never become palatable to everyone in the value chain.
Julien Addaye in Côte d’Ivoire and Claudia Lackew in Ghana contributed to this article.
Edited by: Crispin Mavakideau