Mahama Reduces Cocoa Price … To Address Market Variations

The government, through the ministry of finance, has adjusted downward the producer price of cocoa for the rest of the 2025/2026 crop season.

The Minister for Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, on Thursday, 12 February 2026, announced that for the remainder of the 2025-2026 crop season the cocoa producer price per bag “will now be GH¢2,587 per bag.

This is a reduction of about GH¢1,038 from the GH¢3,625 announced last year for the 2025/2026 crop season.

The minister also announced that the GH¢51,660 per tonne of cocoa will now be GH¢41,392 per tonne.

This cocoa producer price haircut is coming at a time the ruling government promised a higher amount in opposition.

It would be recalled that, in the heat of the 2024 electioneering campaign, the then opposition, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), promised cocoa farmers honey.

The Akufo-Addo government had increased the price of cocoa per bag from GH¢475 to GH¢3,100.

However, the NDC in their campaign told cocoa farmers that they deserved more and promised to pay GH¢6,000 per bag, but could only do GH¢3,600 when it assumed office, owing to the world market price.

There is no gainsaying that the NDC benefitted from the promise to increase the producer price of cocoa from the GH¢3,100 per bag to GH¢6,000.

REALITY

The Minister for Finance, Dr Ato Forson, explained the need for the reduction, indicating that Ghana’s price was not competitive, a situation driving buyers away and could possibly trigger smuggling of cocoa into Ghana.

“Let me say that the reality today is that our beans are very expensive and buyers are not buying them, and obviously there is no point when the world market price is an average of $4,200 per metric tonne to buy your cocoa at $7,200 per metric tonne.

“Certainly there’s no incentive and this is something that we have to live with, and so yes, the reality is that after careful revision of the situation, the producer price review committee came to that conclusion that something needs to be done, but being mindful of the impact on the farmer, as the chair of the producer price review committee and a strong advocate for cocoa farmers, I will push so that cocoa farmers get 90 percent of the producer price for $4,200 at a prevailing exchange rate,” he mentioned.

“The current situation is largely driven by the unwillingness of buyers to purchase Ghana’s cocoa because it has become uncompetitive. Cocoa from other producing countries is now selling at prices significantly lower than the producer price of Ghana,” Ato Forson stated.

ISSUE

The Minister for Finance, Ato Forson, acknowledged that the cocoa sector was facing some turbulence, and sweeping reforms were needed to salvage the situation.

Addressing the media yesterday, the minister for finance highlighted the chronology of events leading to the price reduction.

He said that the 2025/26 cocoa season began in August 2025, with a producer price of GH¢51,660 per tonne calculated as 70% of the gross FOB of US$7,200 per tonne using an exchange rate of 10.25 cedis to the US dollar.

He said that, on October 1, 2025, Côte d’Ivoire announced a new producer price, 20% above that of Ghana.

According to him, the decision by the Ivorians, coupled with movements in the exchange rate, resulted in a significant difference in the producer price of cocoa between Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.

The price difference, he added, had the potential to trigger significant smuggling of Ghana’s cocoa to Côte d’Ivoire.

POLITICS

Following the announcement to reduce the cocoa price per bag, some commentators have blamed the politics for the backlash the government is receiving.

Discussions on multiple radio, television, and social media platforms point to the fact that the NDC, in opposition, played politics when it promised to increase the producer price to GH¢6,000 without the caveat that the increment would be based on the world market price.

The world market price has dropped significantly from the average of US$7,200 per tonne to US$4,100 per tonne.

WAY FORWARD

Meanwhile, the government has announced some measures to deal with the liquidity issue facing COCOBOD.

The minister noted that a cocoa bond will be issued to raise a “revolving fund for COCOBOD to turn around at least once during the season.”

He stated that the state-owned produce buying company (“PBC) will be revived to resume full operations and become the leading licenced buying company in the cocoa sector with immediate effect.”

With the new financing model, the cocoa board can sell beans of any volume to local processing companies to promote value addition and job creation, Minister Ato announced.

“Cabinet has also directed that beginning from the 2026-2027 crop season, a minimum of 50% of all cocoa beans should be processed locally, and this will be part of the cocoa board bill going to parliament,” he stated.

 

 

For more news, join The Chronicle Newspaper channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBSs55E50UqNPvSOm2z

The post Mahama Reduces Cocoa Price … To Address Market Variations appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle.

Read Full Story