Hot chocolate
Cocoa prices increased sharply to a 17-year record of more than 2,000/t in October 2002. Rotting harvests due to too much rainfall in Ghana and the outburst of civil unrest following the September coup attempt in Côte d Ivoire, where 40% of the world s supply is grown, caused cocoa shortages that sent cocoa prices soaring. Another important reason behind the price increase is the cocoa merchant Anthony Ward. He heads a company called Armajaro that has bought large quantities of cocoa in recent years. In mid-2002, Ward s company cornered more than two-thirds of the cocoa futures , the expected cocoa harvest from October until December 2002. By gaining control over the supply of cocoa, Ward gained control over the cocoa market and hence the price-making forces. The chocolate processing industries are starting to moan. They had anticipated a further decrease or at least a continuation of the low prices and had not build up any cocoa stocks. They now will have to buy their cocoa at higher prices. For the cocoa growers, the high prices might seem good news, but this does not mean much if plantations are not accessible due to war or if the profits are skimmed off by the merchants and traders along the road to London s forward market Liffe, where a substantial amount of the world s cocoa is traded.
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
2002
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/47764 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99606 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Cocoa prices increased sharply to a 17-year record of more than 2,000/t in October 2002. Rotting harvests due to too much rainfall in Ghana and the outburst of civil unrest following the September coup attempt in Côte d Ivoire, where 40% of the world s supply is grown, caused cocoa shortages that sent cocoa prices soaring.
Another important reason behind the price increase is the cocoa merchant Anthony Ward. He heads a company called Armajaro that has bought large quantities of cocoa in recent years. In mid-2002, Ward s company cornered more than two-thirds of the cocoa futures , the expected cocoa harvest from October until December 2002. By gaining control over the supply of cocoa, Ward gained control over the cocoa market and hence the price-making forces.
The chocolate processing industries are starting to moan. They had anticipated a further decrease or at least a continuation of the low prices and had not build up any cocoa stocks. They now will have to buy their cocoa at higher prices.
For the cocoa growers, the high prices might seem good news, but this does not mean much if plantations are not accessible due to war or if the profits are skimmed off by the merchants and traders along the road to London s forward market Liffe, where a substantial amount of the world s cocoa is traded. |
|---|