COPAL COCOA Info
COPAL COCOA Info A Weekly Newsletter of Cocoa Producers' Alliance
| Health and Nutrition |Labour Issues |
|Chocolately yours | |
|Premium ingredients launches two chocolate milk stabilisers | |
| |Environmental Issue |
|Production and Quality | |
|Reap rewards by investing in cocoa plantation | |
|Scheme to revive cocoa production in rural areas |Research & Development |
|Cuba aims to achieve record cocoa output |Callebaut bids to boost viability of Malaysian cocoa |
| | |
|The Market |Promotion & Consumption |
|Cocoa highs hit chocolate makers |RI to host international conference on cocoa |
|Summary Box: Hershey's sales rise | |
|Ivorian cocoa prices rise as sector slowly revives |Others |
| |Socialist plan for Venezuela’s cocoa sector |
|Processing & Manufacturing | |
| | |
| | |
|Business & Economy | |
|Ivory Coast cocoa trade, banking poised to restart | |
|Ivorian cocoa exports seen soon, customs row over | |
|Cadbury's: An epic chocolate saga | |
|Battle Pits Cocoa Speculators against Chocolate Makers | |
|See's Candies sees bigger dairy than cocoa issue | |
In the News (from Newspapers worldwide)
ICCO Daily Cocoa Prices
| |ICCO Daily Price |ICCO Daily price |London futures |New York futures |
| |(SDR/tonne) |($US/tonne) |(£/tonne) |($US/tonne) |
| | | | | |
|25th April |1937.78 |3114.61 |1915.83 |3075.67 |
| | | | | |
|26th April |1946.42 |3132.87 |1924.00 |3106.33 |
| | | | | |
|27th April |1980.27 |3191.98 |1945.33 |3177.67 |
| | | | | |
|28th April |2036.98 |3299.24 |1996.33 |3286.67 |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|29th April |0 |0 |0 |3346.67 |
| | | | | |
|Average |1580.00 |2548.00 |1556.00 |3199.00 |
International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE)
London Futures Market – Summary of Trading Activities
(£ per tone)
|Monday |25th April |2011 | | | | |
|Month |Opening Trans |Settle |Change |Daily High |Daily Low |Volume |
|May 2011 | | | | | | |
|Jul 2011 | | | | | | |
|Sep 2011 | | | | | | |
|Dec 2011 | | | | | | |
|Mar 2012 | | | | | | |
|May 2012 | | | | | | |
|Jul-12 | | | | | | |
|Sep-12 | | | | | | |
|Dec 2012 | | | | | | |
|Mar 2013 | | | | | | |
|Average/Totals | |#DIV/0! | | | |0 |
|Tuesday |26th April |2011 | | | | |
|Month |Opening Trans |Settle |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|May 2011 |1873 |1899 |25 |1903S |1865S |2,799 |
|Jul 2011 |1887 |1907 |17 |1912 |1876S |4,103 |
|Sep 2011 |1904 |1924 |16 |1928S |1893S |1,366 |
|Dec 2011 |1916 |1941 |16 |1944S |1909S |746 |
|Mar 2012 |1933 |1955 |12 |1958S |1925S |333 |
|May 2012 |1940 |1967 |12 |1942S |1937S |54 |
|Jul-12 | |1975 |12 | | |0 |
|Sep-12 | |1982 |12 | | |0 |
|Dec 2012 | |1989 |12 | | |0 |
|Mar 2013 | |2000 |12 | | |0 |
|Average/Totals | |1954 | | | |9,401 |
|Wednesday |27th April |2011 | | | | |
|Month |Opening Trans |Settle |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|May 2011 |1890 |1916 |17 |1925 |1882 |1,345 |
|Jul 2011 |1911 |1927 |20 |1938 |1892 |4,113 |
|Sep 2011 |1925 |1944 |20 |1954 |1909 |1,470 |
|Dec 2011 |1941 |1965 |24 |1975 |1927S |842 |
|Mar 2012 |1955 |1983 |28 |1990 |1941S |407 |
|May 2012 |1956 |1996 |29 |1993S |1956 |227 |
|Jul-12 |1968 |2005 |30 |1968S |1961S |35 |
|Sep-12 | |2013 |31 | | |0 |
|Dec 2012 | |2021 |32 | | |0 |
|Mar 2013 | |2032 |32 | | |0 |
|Average/Totals | |1980 | | | |8,439 |
|Thursday |28th April |2011 | | | | |
|Month |Opening Trans |Settle |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|May 2011 |1918 |1975 |59 |1975S |1903S |3,210 |
|Jul 2011 |1935 |1981 |54 |1992S |1917S |9,619 |
|Sep 2011 |1950 |1993 |49 |2007 |1933 |3,907 |
|Dec 2011 |1968 |2015 |50 |2028S |1957 |1,695 |
|Mar 2012 |1992 |2030 |47 |2040S |1975S |1,136 |
|May 2012 |1998 |2042 |46 |2039S |1996S |225 |
|Jul-12 | |2049 |44 | | |0 |
|Sep-12 | |2057 |44 | | |0 |
|Dec 2012 | |2064 |43 | | |0 |
|Mar 2013 | |2076 |44 | | |0 |
|Average/Totals | |2028 | | | |19,792 |
|Month |Opening Trans |Settle |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|May 2011 | | | | | | |
|Jul 2011 | | | | | | |
|Sep 2011 | | | | | | |
|Dec 2011 | | | | | | |
|Mar 2012 | | | | | | |
|May 2012 | | | | | | |
|Jul-12 | | | | | | |
|Sep-12 | | | | | | |
|Dec 2012 | | | | | | |
|Mar 2013 | | | | | | |
|Average/Totals | |#DIV/0! | | | |
| | | | | |37,632 |
New York Board of Trade
(New York Futures Market – Summary of Trading Activities)
(US$ per tone)
|Monday |25th April |2011 | | | | |
|Month |Open |Price |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|May 2011 |3075 |3128 |-2 |3132 |3070 |5 |
|Jul 2011 |3088 |3060 |-28 |3116 |3036 |4,113 |
|Sep 2011 |3099 |3072 |-27 |3124 |3052 |337 |
|Dec 2011 |3140 |3087 |-27 |3140 |3069 |648 |
|Mar 2012 |3186 |3137 |-28 |3186 |3120 |76 |
|May 2012 |0 |3132 |-28 |0 |0 |0 |
|Jul 2012 |0 |3127 |-32 |0 |0 |0 |
|Sep 2012 |0 |3122 |-36 |0 |0 |55 |
|Dec 2012 |0 |3137 |-35 |0 |0 |65 |
|Mar 2013 |0 |3162 |-36 |0 |0 |10 |
|Average/Totals | |3116 | | | |5309 |
|Tuesday |26th April |2011 | | | | |
|Month |Open |Price |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|May 2011 |3150 |3131 |3 |3150 |3150 |2 |
|Jul 2011 |3064 |3093 |33 |3099 |3053 |5,432 |
|Sep 2011 |3100 |3102 |30 |3105 |3062 |891 |
|Dec 2011 |3102 |3118 |31 |3120 |3094 |520 |
|Mar 2012 |3157 |3166 |29 |3166 |3150 |43 |
|May 2012 |3166 |3161 |29 |3166 |3166 |4 |
|Jul 2012 |0 |3156 |29 |0 |0 |0 |
|Sep 2012 |0 |3151 |29 |0 |0 |0 |
|Dec 2012 |0 |3169 |32 |0 |0 |0 |
|Mar 2013 |0 |3191 |29 |0 |0 |0 |
|Average/Totals | |3144 | | | |6892 |
|Wednesday |27th April |2011 | | | | |
|Month |Open |Price |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|May 2011 |3148 |3206 |75 |3152 |3148 |9 |
|Jul 2011 |3093 |3168 |75 |3200 |3073 |12,020 |
|Sep 2011 |3118 |3178 |76 |3193 |3092 |1,693 |
|Dec 2011 |3124 |3194 |76 |3216 |3100 |694 |
|Mar 2012 |3174 |3239 |73 |3243 |3168 |373 |
|May 2012 |3164 |3234 |73 |3164 |3164 |4 |
|Jul 2012 |3164 |3229 |73 |3170 |3151 |28 |
|Sep 2012 |3233 |3224 |73 |3233 |3233 |31 |
|Dec 2012 |3238 |3239 |70 |3242 |3238 |54 |
|Mar 2013 |0 |3264 |73 |0 |0 |21 |
|Average/Totals | |3218 | | | |14927 |
|Thursday |28th April |2011 | | | | |
|Month |Open |Price |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|May 2011 |0 |3330 |124 |0 |0 |0 |
|Jul 2011 |3188 |3280 |112 |3299 |3170 |18,303 |
|Sep 2011 |3201 |3286 |108 |3300 |3178 |2,547 |
|Dec 2011 |3229 |3305 |111 |3320 |3215 |1,463 |
|Mar 2012 |3276 |3346 |107 |3354 |3243 |1,096 |
|May 2012 |3294 |3335 |101 |3326 |3290 |163 |
|Jul 2012 |3292 |3340 |111 |3292 |3292 |122 |
|Sep 2012 |3294 |3337 |113 |3294 |3294 |45 |
|Dec 2012 |0 |3351 |112 |0 |0 |4 |
|Mar 2013 |3334 |3374 |110 |3334 |3334 |4 |
|Average/Totals | |3328 | | | |23747 |
|Friday |29th April |2011 | | | | |
|Month |Open |Price |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|May 2011 |3350 |3390 |60 |3424 |3350 |18 |
|Jul 2011 |3282 |3340 |60 |3348 |3270 |14,222 |
|Sep 2011 |3286 |3345 |59 |3351 |3277 |1,297 |
|Dec 2011 |3294 |3358 |53 |3361 |3291 |377 |
|Mar 2012 |3387 |3398 |52 |3401 |3384 |222 |
|May 2012 |3367 |3387 |52 |3367 |3367 |213 |
|Jul 2012 |3369 |3385 |45 |3369 |3361 |459 |
|Sep 2012 |3369 |3384 |47 |3369 |3366 |365 |
|Dec 2012 |0 |3400 |49 |0 |0 |41 |
|Mar 2013 |0 |3423 |49 |0 |0 |21 |
|Average/Totals | |3381 | | | |17235 |
|Average for the week |3381 | | | |3134 |
| | | | | |3134 |
News
Health and Nutrit
Chocolately yours
Khaleej Times
By Raziqueh Hussain at raziqueh@
29 April 2011
For long, the world’s favourite
sweet treat has been gourmet, Belgian, all-American, handcrafted, milk, dark, white, nutty… now, it gets experiential. Relive the sensation
Celebrity chef Emily Luchetti summed it up beautifully: “After eating chocolate, you feel godlike, as though you can conquer enemies, lead armies, entice lovers,” she said.
You don’t doubt that for a second. For years and years, chocolates have had the magical ability to light up everyone’s faces; and by extension, a bit of their lives. More so now. It
is, after all, the age of instant gratification.
Globally, the chocolate industry is valued at more than a whopping $41.6bn with Europe accounting for 45 per cent of global revenue and America with a third of market share.
A recent study reveals that the chocolate market in the UAE, like most other places in the world (unless it’s somewhere gastronomically-challenged), is going strong with 98 per cent of respondents claiming to consume chocolate at least once a week.
And with tourism expected to surpass the 13 million mark by 2012, there is clearly a strong market for novelty, premium chocolate brands in the UAE — for tourists, visitors and chocolate loving residents.
In order to convert the chocolate trade into a deliciously fashionably (and extremely novel!) “experience”, chocolatier Al Nassma — whose flagship store is located in Umm Nahad, nestling in the desert sands — was quick to make use of the first mover advantage. For hundreds of years, the spectacular beauty of the desert has fascinated travellers; it’s no wonder that it is now housing the ultimate treat: the finest camel milk chocolates.
Set up in October 2008, Al Nassma is founded and owned by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE, and ruler of Dubai. In partnership with Austrian chocolate maker Manner, Al Nassma manufactures the end product at its Dubai facility — the Camelicious farm, home to an army of 3,000 camels; the milk they generate produces 100 tonnes of premium chocolates a year.
Although camel milk is a traditional staple among Bedouin tribes, it had never before been used in chocolate. The company sells chocolates through its Camelicious farm-attached store as well as in luxury hotels and private airlines. The chocolates taste slightly sweeter and richer than traditional chocolates, but also cost more, selling for about Dh25 for a bar to Dh530 for a kilo of pralines. It is billed as “a true innovation… deemed to conquer the world as the sweet ambassador of Arabia”.
Talking as we walk towards where the camels are milked, Martin van Almsick, general manager of Al Nassma says, “Nobody thought about using camel milk before, then people from the camel world met people from the chocolate world and it occurred to everybody that it was obvious.” He said that it took nearly three years to get the recipe right. “There was a huge amount of trial and error.”
For this exceptional project, professionals from around the world joined in to create an innovation 133 years after milk chocolate was invented. Martin, a chocolate aficionado and former manager of the famous Cologne chocolate museum, worked together with experts from Austria and Germany to create this chocolate brand.
“Al Nassma is a truly Arabian product, with Arabic ingredients produced for the Arabic palate. This product category does not exist anywhere else; it is a world novelty,” he explains.
Camel milk is rich in vitamins and minerals and has healing qualities. It contains up to five times more vitamin C than dairy milk, less lactose and more insulin, which makes it a good alternative for the lactose intolerant and diabetics.
The product line includes a host of flavours, from pralines delicately filled with pistachio, nougat and coffee cream to tempting chocolate bars, including whole milk, 70 per cent cocoa and the alluring Arabia, flavoured with local spices, dates, macadamia nut and orange. At the centre of the line is the gold-wrapped chocolate camel, embodying the source of Al Nassma — the camel and its milk. These hollow, camel-shaped chocolates are available in two sizes, 130 and 730 gms.
Even two years ago, you could count the number of chocolate boutiques on your fingertips. Now, there’s an explosion of local as well as international franchises and many of them have made their home in the Dubai Mall.
Close to Reel cinemas in Dubai Mall, specialising in chocolate (of course!), and other desserts, Vintage Chocolate Lounge is a must-visit café for the sweet-toothed. Young Emirati MBA graduate, Al Anood Abdulla Al Mulla along with her sister, a Maths graduate, Maymoona Abdulla Al Mulla, spent a year travelling extensively, researching and planning, visiting chocolate makers around the world, learning the art of the trade and handpicking every ingredient on the menu for this venture. “The chocolate flavours you’ll sample here will differ according to the harvest at the time the chocolate beans were picked. Cocoa and sugarcane are the only two unprocessed ingredients that we use, and our traditional production methods sets us apart from the over-processed ingredients of the modern day chocolate industry. All our cocoa beans are imported from Ecuador and are classified as ‘fine cocoa,’ and we only use heirloom beans from sustainable cocoa farms there,” says Anood Al Mulla.
At the store, fine cocoa beans are transformed into exceptional chocolate desserts and drinks, chocolate pastries and truffles.
It’s called a Chocolate Shot. And it comes in a small size shot cup. Extremely and dangerously delicious! “Oh yes, it is our No. 1 hot selling product which is a soul warming chocolate drink. It can be served with your choice of spices, such as black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, clove and cardamom. I am personally addicted to chocolate shot with ginger spice drizzle,” she smiles.
She has also introduced the chocolate sushi which is the result of her immense liking of Japanese food. “Each chocolate has a special story as we choose ingredients specifically different for each chocolate. From the selection to the presentation, a lot of effort goes into making it a truly unforgettable experience.”
Fascinated by the highly diversified market of Dubai, Madame Isabelle and her husband decided to introduce Parisian homemade chocolate that was owned by their family since 1910 — Forrey & Galland. Apart from the milk chocolates, the store at Dubai Mall also has the widest collection of sugar-free, handmade chocolates for those who are health conscious.
Known to be lighter than air, with amazing flavours that steal your breath, the brand has introduced French macaroon in three different boutique collections — classic, fruit and Arabic. “We are also creating more flavours and have reached a total of 17 in just a year and half since they were first introduced,” says Rami Shibani, store manager, Forrey & Galland.
What’s also popular is the Omani Halwa coated with French chocolate. “This product was a result of a detailed analysis and the understanding of the Gulf culture where tradition is of utmost importance. Consequently, we present this traditional sweet in an Arabic hand-decorated box that steals the attention of everybody,” he adds.
Twenty years ago, Moka General Trading introduced Godiva chocolates to the Middle East, successfully adapting the classical Belgian style to the demand of the local market. Apart from locations in Dubai Mall, Wafi and Jumeirah Center, the Godiva presence is increasing at gourmet outlets at luxury 5-star hotels too. In addition, due to the rising tendency of online shopping in the region, a website called Chocolate Gifting Delights has also been launched. “Godiva was first to create the concept of premium chocolate,” says Helena Shpakovich, brand manager, Godiva Chocolates, Moka General Trading LLC. More than 90 varieties of creamy and crispy pralines, ganache and truffles are packed in exquisite European-style gold ballotins. “With Godiva chocolates you offer not only taste, you offer an unforgettable experience and a little grain of art with every piece. Our arrangement with Emirates Airlines, serving passengers of First and Business class for more than 16 years, has been definitely the greatest achievement so far,” says Helena.
For Godiva, she continues, there is no question in substituting even a gram of finest cocoa butter with any other vegetable fat. Truly fine chocolates have several characteristics in common: they are always fresh, contain high quality ingredients like premium cocoa beans, are less sweet and feature unusual textures and natural flavours. Their taste and quality differs greatly from mass-market chocolates, which tend to use artificial flavours and preservatives.
At its exclusive boutique in Mirdif City Center, relish the luxury British chocolatier and cocoa grower Hotel Chocolat’s unique offerings. Even with Easter celebrations just over, there is plenty of chocolate excitement at the store. “Our mantra is ‘Less sugar, more cocoa’ and we try to promote this throughout our range — an example is our 50 per cent Macho Milk which has a far higher cocoa content than most milk chocolates. You only need a little dark chocolate to satisfy your chocolate craving, meaning it’s good for diets,” says Kareem Jawad, deputy general manager, Jawad Group who distributes the brand in the region.
With innovative flavours and recipes, stock products from ‘Iconic Slabs’ to mouth-watering ‘Liquid Chocolat,’ it’s the ultimate selection for any chocolate lover. “I would say our Selector Slabs and the Liquid Chocolat are real best sellers. Our Giant Slabs are again very unique. What I personally love about Hotel Chocolat is that there are so many different flavours and ranges to choose from. My personal favourite is the Triple Chocolate Wham Bam; you’ve got to try it!”
ChoCo’a at Al Barsha is the result of hard work and passion for all things chocolate. Dina Hamzeh, retail director says, “It was a matter of following our dream. With over 15 years in the chocolate business, we felt it was time to create ChoCo’a. It offers five boutique chocolate collections as well as custom-made chocolate arrangements, cakes and pastries.”
ChoCo’a has created a range of pure chocolate delights combining the richest-sought after Belgian chocolate with premium and innovative Oriental and Occidental flavours. “In the past few years, we have seen a health trend emerging and in order to cater to our health-conscious clientele, we have created a sugar-free collection of chocolate that truly allows you to indulge without the calorie guilt. As UAE citizens have become more aware of the positive effect of consuming dark chocolate in moderation, we are now seeing a rise in demand for dark chocolate,” she explains.
Chocolates containing nuts are said to be the most popular in the UAE. Due to the rise in demand, the store created their own Nut Collection which includes products such as caramelised almond shavings enrobed in milk chocolate, among others. Dina says, “The Caramel Collection, named Karma, includes products such as Chi, a rose water caramel moulded in dark chocolate, and Zen, an almond Florentine cookie enrobed in milk chocolate. I named one of the Caramel collections, Karma, after my own daughter, as she was born at the same time as the Caramel collection.”
You really cannot blame Dina for this emotional connect — since most of life’s cherished moments share a chocolatey imprint.
Premium ingredients launches two chocolate milk stabilisers
29-Apr-2011
Premium Ingredients has launched two new products for UHT chocolate milk, created to stabilise cocoa particles, avoid sedimentation and improve mouthfeel.
Premitex XLB-6020 is specifically recommended for UHT chocolate milk made from reconstituted milk.
A product for low cost formulas, the ingredient is made from a blend of emulsifiers, carrageenan and guar gum.
The other ingredient, Premigum XLB-11009, is recommended for UHT chocolate milk made from fresh milk and is created from a specific blend of microcrystalline cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose and carrageenan.
SPONSORED LINK
Tetra Rex now with a new One Step Opening Cap Tetra Rex has proved itself to be the symbol of freshness, convenience and safety to a whole generation. Now with the new TwistCap 34 OSO (One Step Opening) it does what it does best -just better.
Reap rewards by investing in cocoa plantation
BusinessDay
By Olumakinde Oni
25 April 2011
Cocoa was first introduced to Nigeria in 1874. Thereafter, the country became one of the world producers of cocoa from 1904.
In 1960, it became the second largest producer after Ghana, producing about 200,000 metric tons on annual basis.
Moreover, most of the developmental projects in the western region of the country were financed from cocoa income by the then western region government. However, the decline in production started with the advent of crude oil, when most plantations were abandoned.
Thus more than ever before, there is the need to revitalise cocoa production in Nigeria because of the dwindling oil income. Not only this, there is the need to diversify the economy to create jobs and income opportunities in the face of the global financial meltdown, and inability of getting income from oil to create jobs and wealth for majority of the people.
Cocoa is one of the most exportable crops in Nigeria, which can readily generate export earning to the people. It is also an investment that will outlive the owner, and the implication of this is that an investor in cocoa plantation will reap the rewards for the rest of his/her life.
The uses of cocoa are many. These include among others cocoa butter, cake and liquor. Cocoa products are used for beverage production and cosmetics, while its bye-products can also be used as organic fertiliser and feed for ruminant animals. So far, from cocoa pod, only the cocoa beans are economically used.
The cocoa husk and cocoa sweetens have been proved to be capable of a number of industrial processes, such as the use of the husk in livestock feed and soap making, and that of sweeteners in manufacturing of jellies, jams, food ingredients, wines, sugary solution, etc.
Requirements
The number one requirement is a large expanse of land where the soil is deep, fertile, well aerated and loamy in nature.
Another is the source of seedlings procurement, which is also very important. Alternatively, nursery may be prepared separately whenever the seed are pre-lanted before transplanting them to the field. It can be grown either from seeds or vegetative breeding, but commercial plantings are mainly grown from seeds.
Other requirements are black polythene bags, farm implements, shading materials, wind breakers, abundant labour, chemicals (fungicide, insecticides, etc.), processing implements, qualified personnel, some growth hormones, and drying facilities.
Market potential/project justification
Considering the benefits of cocoa today, its demand is fast rising and prices even getting better.
It is a good source of foreign exchange also for the investor and the country. For some time now, cocoa farmers in Nigeria have been smiling due to the boost in non-oil export, which was as a result of the abolition of cocoa board by the Federal Government.
However, the demand for cocoa beans in the country for both export and domestic uses is in the excess of the supply. Moreover, the ton of cocoa bean is now selling at 400 percent of the price some years back.
The recent deregulation of the economy by the government has further more made cocoa production to gain tremendous popularity because of boost given to the non-oils exports.
Thus a lot of abandoned cocoa plantations located in some parts of Oyo, Ondo, and Ekiti states have been re-activated by their owners. Suddenly, cocoa production is being seen as one of the major sources to earn foreign currency.
In view of the above, it has been identified that establishment of cocoa plantation is one of the investment opportunities for Nigerian investors. Not only because of its foreign exchange potential, but due to the fact that it will stand as life investment for its owners.
This project is strongly recommended for consideration by investors, investment houses and profit-conscious companies, including governments, to create jobs and income for the nation’s youths.
Projected revenue
A well-maintained cocoa plantation will yield a minimum of two tons of dry seed per hectare per year starting from the fourth year, which translates to 20 tons for 10 hectares.
The current selling price of cocoa is N350, 000 (minimum per ton). An annual income of N7 million can be generated from this project, with operating expenses put at N1.5 million per annum.
Investors will be making over N5 million annually from the fourth year for life, while serious-minded investors can be assisted in the actualisation of this project.
Olumakinde Oni’s contact: 08023058045, 080-23058045, 08152596985, 08033660177, 08033660177. E-mail: olumakindeoni@
Scheme to revive cocoa production in rural areas
Ghana Business News
April 27, 2011
Cocoa production is to be revived in the forested and semi-forested areas of the Ho Municipal area under a scheme initiated by Captain George Nfojoh, Ho-Central Member of Parliament.
The scheme would be funded from the MPs Common Fund and the Heavily Indebted Poor Country’s (HIPC) Fund.
He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Monday during a meeting of the first batch of about 800 targeted farmers that the plan should bring the cultivation of the “golden-pod” back to the fore as prime source of income in the area.
Captain Nfojoh said 20,000 hybrid seeds had been nursed for distribution among the farmers who would be guided by a technical team through land preparation, planting and management.
He said the devastating bush fires of the early 1980’s, which destroyed cocoa farms was the main factor that caused the slide in cocoa production in the area.
He said the GH¢ 20,000 yearly project a “budding one, should raise the living standards of the rural population in area in the coming years”.
Captain Nfojoh warned the farmers against the smuggling of the tonnes of cocoa to be realized under the scheme.
Mr Daniel Tetteh Angmor, Chief Technical Officer of the Saviefe Cocoa Station who took the farmers through a lecture on cocoa farming said the hybrids could yield fruits in 18 months if the farms were managed well. He said it was better to cultivate a small farm that one could manage rather than a big but badly managed one with low yields.
Cuba aims to achieve record cocoa output
The Citizen Daily
28 April 2011
Havana. Cuba has launched a new national programme that seeks to revive the country's cocoa industry. Cuban authorities are planning to raise the production of cocoa beans to 4,000 tonnes by 2015, the record high output seen in the 1960s, an official from the Agriculture Ministry said.
Cuba's present cocoa production is less than 2,000 tonnes. The ministry's five-year plan calls for an increase of more than 4,000 hectares of land planted with cocoa so that the total cocoa-growing area will reach 11,000 hectares, making it possible to achieve the production of over 3,000 tonnes, said Elexis Legra, the director of coffee and cocoa for the Mountain Agriculture Business Group. Official statistics indicate that about 80 per cent of Cuba's cocoa is grown by small-holder farmers on individual land plots. (Xinhua)
Cocoa highs hit chocolate makers
BBC News
By Susannah Streeter Business reporter, BBC News
25 April 2011
Spreading out chocolate Major confectioners have already raised prices by up to 10%
The Easter holidays are usually a time for bumper profits for confectionery giants, as many consumers indulge their love of chocolate.
But consumers are being lured by ''buy one get two free'' promotions, such offers mask what has been a difficult year for many chocolate makers.
They've had to cope with soaring prices of raw materials without passing too much of the cost onto cash-strapped consumers.
At Whiteley's shopping centre in London, five tonnes of chocolate pours down a chocolate waterfall.
This recreation of Willy Wonka's masterpiece by food architects Bompas and Parr certainly wasn't a cheap stunt.
"When you are dealing with tonnes of chocolate, the tiniest fluctuation in the price of cocoa can have a massive difference," said Sam Bompas, its co-creator.
"We don't want to compromise how epic the chocolatey-ness is, but we find ourselves chopping out other things from our installations to save money.''
Bompas and Parr's chocolate waterfall Bompas and Parr were inspired by Willy Wonka's chocolate fountain
Supply disruptions
The price of cocoa beans, the essential ingredient for waterfalls, Easter eggs and simple chocolate bars, has doubled in price over the past five years.
On the London futures market, cocoa was trading at around £896 a tonne in April 2006. This week the price was close to £2,000 a tonne.
Like many other commodities, it has been seen as an attractive investment over the past few years, but supply and demand problems have pushed its price up further.
“Start Quote
We can certainly expect prices to be volatile over the next few months”
End Quote Jonathan Parkman Commodities analyst
Then came the political crisis in the Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa exporter.
''The unrest in the Ivory Coast has really exacerbated the high cocoa prices we have seen over the past few years," said Jonathan Parkman, joint head of agriculture at brokerage, Marex Financial.
"It's not just the price of cocoa, there are a number of different raw ingredients that go into the making of chocolate and they have pretty much all gone up, so manufacturers have really had a tough time."
The US manufacturers Hershey's, which makes Reese's peanut butter cups, put up prices by just under 10% this year.
European giant Nestle has kept increases to 1.6% and Kraft, the owner of Cadbury's, says it is focusing on cost savings elsewhere to try to prevent having to pass on higher ingredients' costs to customers.
Rococo founder Chantal Coady The founder of high-end chocolate maker Rococo says they are trying to limit price rises
Further rises
So far, sales have held up well in this difficult economic climate. Chocolate is seen as an affordable luxury and is often cushioned from shopping basket cutbacks.
But if prices continue to rise, customers will switch to cheaper brands in much greater numbers.
So high-end chocolatiers have had to work hard to keep customers.
Rococo chocolates saw a big dip in sales during the financial crisis but they have since bounced back.
"The price of cocoa, like the price of oil, keeps going up and up and up," said Chantal Coady, Rococo's founder and creative director.
"We have worked very hard to limit retail price rises but we have also found that once people have acquired a taste for really fantastic chocolate it is quite hard to go back, a bit like wine, probably."
She adds that although people may be coming a little less often, they are still spending.
So where will wholesale prices go from here?
''Although the situation in the Ivory Coast is nearly resolved, it is by no means completely resolved and we can certainly expect prices to be volatile over the next few months,'' said Jonathan Parkman.
But despite the fluctuating price of cocoa on world markets, Mintel predicts that seasonal and chocolate box sales will increase by 13% over the next four years. For many consumers chocolate is a hard habit to kick, whatever the price.
Summary Box: Hershey's sales rise
BusinessWeek
By The Associated Press
April 27, 2011
WHAT HAPPENED: Hershey Co. reported higher net income and stronger-than-expected sales for the first quarter. But the candy maker also said that it will have to convince customers to keep buying chocolate, at a higher price, even as they spend more on gas and groceries.
WHY: Hershey said last month that it would raise prices by an average of 10 percent, to make up for the higher costs it's paying for cocoa, sugar and fuel. It's trying to balance keeping prices low enough that customers aren't driven to much-larger rivals Kraft Food Inc. and Mars Inc.
THE BIG PICTURE: The company is looking to overseas markets and new products to make up for a potential slowdown at home.
Ivorian cocoa prices rise as sector slowly revives
Reuters Africa -
By Loucoumane Coulibaly
Apr 28, 2011
ABIDJAN, April 28 (Reuters) - Ivorian cocoa farmers said on Thursday that prices for their beans were rising for the first time since the end of a violent post-election power struggle, but that smuggling continued into Ghana.
Banks began reopening on Thursday and cocoa exporters in the top grower nation said they expected shipments of beans to resume by the end of next week, key steps in reviving cocoa trade in the countryside.
"The banks reopened this morning in Daloa. This is a good sign for the future, even if the buyers and exporters have not immediately restarted," said Attoungbre Kouame, who farms in the centre-west region of Daloa which produces about a quarter of the Ivorian harvest.
"At the moment, cocoa is selling for between 350 and 400 CFA frances per kilogram," he said, adding prices two weeks ago were between 250 and 300 CFA/kg. "We think prices will rise in the coming week with the resumption of trade and exports and the restart of banking operations," he said
Ivory Coast's conflict started to ease in mid-April with the arrest of former leader Laurent Gbagbo, who had refused to step down after a November election, triggering a dispute that killed as many as 3,000 people and paralysed the economy.
In the western region of Gagnoa, the average price was around 350 CFA/kg compared with 250 CFA/kg three weeks ago. "The prices are improving. We hope the prices will keep rising with the reopening of the banks," said Francois Badiel, head of the Gagnoa cocoa farmers' cooperative.
In the western region of Soubre, at the heart of the cocoa belt, farmers, who have began the harvesting the mid-crop which runs from April to October, were holding back their beans expecting higher prices in the coming week. "There has been a small increase in prices. We are between 300 and 400 CFA/kg but farmers are holding back product because they think prices will rise further next week," said farmer Salam Kone. "There are lots of beans to sell, and the quality is good," he added.
In the eastern region of Abengourou, near the border of Ghana, farmers said much of the area's cocoa was being sold to smugglers headed for Ghana in recent months.
"All of the stockpiles in the region have gone to Ghana," said farmer Joseph Amani.
"They bought at about 700 CFA/kg and they resold (in Ghana) at 1,000 to 1,100 CFA/kg," he said.
"The Republican Forces say nothing when the trucks take the road to Ghana," he said, referring to forces who toppled Gbagbo and now make up the Ivorian army.
Ivory Coast cocoa trade, banking poised to restart
Reuters Africa
By Ange Aboa and Loucoumane Coulibaly
Apr 26, 2011
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's cocoa and banking sectors are set to resume operations within days, officials said on Tuesday, signalling big steps toward restoring normality in the conflict-torn West African state.
A violent post-election power struggle paralyzed the economy of the world's top cocoa grower for months, leaving Ivorians to scramble for daily survival in the midst of heavy combat and sending shockwaves through global cocoa markets.
"The (regional central bank) BCEAO is open," Souleymane Diarrassouba, vice president of the Ivorian Banking Professionals' Association, told Reuters. "It has made all arrangements to supply the banks with bills." He added that the majority of workers at the nation's private banks, which include Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Citibank, were also back at work after banks shut their doors months ago.
Officials at the banks were not immediately available to comment, though a source at Societe Generale who asked not to be named said the bank could reopen to customers as early as Thursday.
Ivory Coast's cocoa industry, the country's main economic engine, could also resume export shipments in days once a dispute over customs duty arrangements is settled, the industry body said on Tuesday.
Exporters at a meeting in commercial capital Abidjan said customs authorities were demanding payment in cash of the so-called DUS export tax rather than accepting cheques, while the local banking system is still not operating. "We insisted, but Customs demanded that it be paid in cash. In any case, I am hopeful that things will be sorted out today," Eric Koffi, director of operations for the CGFCC body, said. Later he added to Reuters: "The first exports will take place in a few days. We are operational, but there remain a few problems with exporters."
FUEL CRUNCH
The refusal of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo to quit after a November 28 election was judged to have been won by rival Alassane Ouattara triggered a violent crisis in which over 1,500 died, hundreds of thousands were torn from their homes and economy of the world's top cocoa producer ground to a halt.
Ivory Coast typically produces about 1.2 million tonnes of cocoa per year, or roughly a third of the global total.
Gbagbo was forcibly removed from office on April 11 by Ouattara forces backed by French and U.N. troops and is now under house arrest somewhere in the north of the country. Residents of Abidjan said on Tuesday they were eager to get back to work after the conflict, but there were still obstacles including a lack of fuel after the ports and national refinery had been shut.
"Work is restarting but we need a way to get around," said Francis Kanga, who works at cocoa industry regulator BCC. "We need to be able to buy fuel."
Following a de facto trade embargo on Ivorian cocoa, around 460,000 tonnes are being held in storage awaiting export as fears grow that the quality of beans is suffering. Koffi said formalities would be streamlined to allow exports to begin as quickly as possible, with the registration process being reduced from 72 hours to less than 24, a waiver on penalties for late exports, and more rapid quality control. "The final quality of the cocoa will have to be reflected in the contracts ... there will be limits on the quality of cocoa but we will apply quite a wide limit," he said.
Exporters said the more immediate problem, however, was the customs authorities' insistence on cash payment of export taxes. "If that is the case, we won't be able to export now," said one exporter who declined to be named.
Ivorian cocoa exports seen soon, customs row over
Reuters Africa
Apr 28, 2011
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast cocoa exports could resume by next week after a row was resolved over how to make customs payments, two exporters in the world's top grower nation told Reuters on Thursday.
"We have finally had a decision by Customs to accept payment in cheques (instead of cash)," said the director of one export company based in Abidjan, who said he now expected exports to restart by the end of next week.
Nearly half a million tonnes of cocoa has been held up at the West Africa country's ports by a conflict which has lasted more than four months and only eased this month with the arrest of former president Laurent Gbagbo.
The ex-leader had refused to step do after he was judged to have lost a November election to his rival Alassane Ouattara, sparking off a power struggle that killed as many as 3,000 people and shut down the West African state's economy.
Exporters said earlier this week that a demand by customs authorities that duty be paid in cash instead of by cheque, was snagging the resumption of cocoa exports amid a cash crunch since the conflict.
"Now that we have found a solution with Customs and the banks have reopened, exports of cocoa will restart soon," said another Abidjan-based export director.
"We have documents to acquire and we need to prepare the beans, and that will take at least 10 days, which is also the amount of time needed for the first ships to arrive from Europe," he said. "So (exports) will begin by the end of next week."
Cadbury's: An epic chocolate saga
By IANS, Friday,
29 April 2011,
Bangalore: The story of Cadbury's chocolate is a family soap flavoured with high business drama, strict moral ethics, religion and a destiny-defying struggle, says a new book chronicling Cadbury's "Chocolate Wars" (published by Harper Press).
The book has been penned by Deborah Cadbury, a daughter of the Cadbury family.
Tucked away in the heart of Birmingham's dismal foggy Bridge Street in the mid-19th century was a small Victorian novelty - a cocoa works that was approached by a dirt road. The factory was a symbol of fragrant rich living in the grimy backstreets.
One early morning in 1861, brothers George and Richard Cadbury hurried to their chocolate to address a harsh reality. There was a crisis in the family. The chocolate factory, owned by their father John Cadbury, was in decline. The family firm was haemorrhaging money and it threatened to go down under if the brothers did not marshall resources, says the Cadbury scion in her family business biography.
The trade in British chocolate - made from the wonder bean acquired from the new world (cocoa pods from America) - was controlled by barely 40 confectionary traders.
There was one last hope for the brothers who had each inherited 4,000 pounds from their mother. Determined to save the chocolate factory, they staked their inheritance, Deborah Cadbury says.
But business foundered. Cocoa, then processed only as a drink by the Cadbury's, failed to appeal to the general British palate. Critics found it loaded with froth and "bad to taste". Something vital was missing.
Adding to their woes, a rival in Bristol, Fry and Sons, which owned one of the largest cocoa works in the world, had introduced a novelty to the Victorian market.
"They experimented with mixing cocoa powder with its bi-product, the excess cocoa fat. Whether by accident or design, they hit upon a way of blending the two ingredients with sugar to make a rich creamy paste. The concoction was then pressed in a mould and left to set. The result was the first chocolate bar in Britain," Cadbury recalls, quoting from her family book.
But Fry & Sons hit back with a "new minty cream". The chocolate-covered mint sticks captured the market by storm.
The Cadbury business nearly died. Persistent George Cadbury considered one last reckless gamble, the writer says. He sailed to the Netherlands and purchased a new cocoa press that the Dutch were using to make a smoother chocolate.
The drink bore fruit when the brothers launched an advertisement blitz around the slogan, "Cadbury's Cocoa, Absolutely Pure, Therefore Best. No Chemicals used," the book documents.
By the autumn of 1868 the campaign gained momentum. George and Richard Cadbury went ahead to create an assortment of eatable solid chocolates and "packaged them in an aromatic fancy box" to woo high-end buyers. It worked. The business flourished for nearly 150 years.
However, Cadbury's confectionary business, which was valued at 5 billion (British) pounds in the first decade of 2000, witnessed a turnaround when in 2010 American giant Kraft Food acquired the company in one of the most hotly debated takeovers in British history, Cadbury says.
The combined entity Cadbury-Kraft commanded a worldwide business of 37 billion pounds, winning an ongoing chocolate war, says Deborah Cadbury.
One of the reasons why John, George and Richard Cadbury - the early pioneers of the brand - had to fight harder than the rest may lie in the spiritual philosophy of 19th century British chocolate makers.
They belonged to a spiritual order known as the Quakers or the Society of Friends, which believed in the uplift of the poor and needy. It imposed a strict set of dos and don'ts on trade practices, stressing on employees' welfare, quality, rejection of display of opulence.
George Cadbury had once said "he wanted to build a model chocolate factory in the middle of great big sinful city". The Cadbury's spirit of philanthropy did not match their tardy profits in the initial years, the book says, sowing the seeds of the events to follow.
Battle Pits Cocoa Speculators against Chocolate Makers
Spiegel Online
By Hauke Goos and Ralf Hoppe
04/29/2011
Food commodities -- from wheat to rice to soybeans -- have become objects of speculation. While cocoa speculators are threatening the survival of some of Germany's oldest chocolate makers, entrepreneurs in Ghana are trying to give farmers a larger share of the profits.
For reasons of data protection and privacy, your IP address will only be stored if you are a registered user of Facebook and you are currently logged in to the service. For more detailed information, please click on the "i" symbol.
Hasso Nauck lives in a world of things that look and smell beautiful. He collects antique cars and plays golf, and his workplace is filled with the scents of chocolate. As he sees it, it's the best chocolate in the world -- because he makes it. Pralines, cocoa truffles and chocolate-covered "ginger tips" are only three of the 110 items in the product line of Hachez. The traditional chocolate maker calls its product "chocolade," a mix of the French and the German words for chocolate.
Nauck has been at the helm of Hachez, based in the northern city-state of Bremen, for the last 20 years. Although the chocolate business has always been relatively straightforward, this last year has seen some strange things happening.
For example, Nauck recently had to sit back and watch as a civil war erupted in Ivory Coast because two men couldn't agree on who was president. A man named Alassane Ouattara, the country's newly elected president, issued a ban on exports and took the country's cocoa off the world market, though it meets roughly 35 percent of global demand.
When Nauck got into the chocolate business more than 30 years ago, the market was still a trader's market; it was straightforward and easy to understand, and cocoa prices followed the rhythm of the harvests. But now Nauck could see how unrest in a faraway country was causing raw cocoa prices to skyrocket. At least for now, that was the peak of the turbulence. But it all began much earlier.
An Attack out of Nowhere
On the morning of July 15, 2010, Nauck realized he was being attacked.
It was 8:30 a.m. on a cloudless, beautiful day. Nauck was sitting at his desk made of polished Oregon pine on the fifth floor of an old factory building with a view of the church spires in Bremen's market square. Nauck was going through his mail. The quarterly figures were looking good, the company had just hired 62 temporary employees and the economy was picking up steam. As he was going through his morning routine of checking prices and stocks online and glancing at a few websites, Nauck saw something that startled him.
The price of cocoa was dramatically high. In just two days, it had risen by 132 British pounds (€148, or $220), and it was still rising. During the course of that trading day, the cocoa price in London would climb to £2,732 per metric ton, a 33-year high. It made Nauck fear for his livelihood, his workers and his factory -- in short, for everything he was about.
Nauck is the majority shareholder and managing director of Hachez, one of Germany's 90 chocolate makers. The company was founded in Bremen in 1890 by Joseph Emile Hachez, and Nauck's grandfather was already a co-owner in the 1920s. In 1990, when the company was in trouble, Nauck took out millions in loans and bought shares in Hachez. As the company's new managing director, he updated its product line to suit modern tastes.
'Choc Finger'
Anthony Ward, the man behind the attack on Nauck, is sitting in an office in London. The fund manager and trader has been given the nickname "Choc Finger," a play on the James Bond villain Goldfinger. In the industry, though, it is meant as a term of admiration.
Anyone who understands the basic rules of Ward's game, commodity speculation, can also understand why the global economy is plunging from one crisis to the next. Ward doesn't like journalists, and he hardly ever grants interviews. Instead, he employs two public relations agencies, whose publicists can say a lot without saying anything.
A broad-shouldered man in his early 50s, Ward grew up in an upper-class family with a long line of merchants. His grandfather reportedly supplied the British Navy with rum. His office is in a black-painted townhouse in Mayfair, London's most exclusive neighborhood. "When it comes to money," says a man who worked with Ward for years, "he focuses on this goal alone."
Cornering the Cocoa Market
Ward had long spoken of his ambition to corner the world cocoa market, and he had already attempted to do it twice before, in 1996 and 2002. He embarked on his third attempt on July 15, 2010.
The price of raw cocoa reacts to news from producing countries and the sizes and quality of harvests, but it also reacts to rumors. That is why there are always speculators on the cocoa exchange in addition to traders and chocolate makers, people like Ward in addition to people like Nauck. The former make bets on whether the price of cocoa will go up or down, gambling on whether there will be a surplus or a shortage of the commodity.
The exchange has its own jargon. Someone who believes that prices for a commodity like cocoa will rise is said to be "going long." He orders the commodity for delivery at a later date, but at today's price. In doing so, he hopes to secure an advantage by being able to resell it at a higher price when -- as he expects -- it gets more expensive. Someone who goes long anticipates scarcity.
On the other hand, someone who expects prices to fall is said to be "going short." He sells a commodity for delivery at some point in the future, but at today's price. In doing so, he hopes to be able to buy the commodity for resale at a lower price in the future. If he's right, his advantage is that he is locking in the current, high price before the commodity's price goes down. Someone who goes short anticipates a surplus.
Looking back, it would appear that Ward knew exactly how to bet on the price of cocoa because he knew for sure that it would become scarcer. And he knew this because -- conveniently enough -- he was actually the very person to make it scarcer in the first place. Indeed, Ward behaved like someone who sees a long line in front of the bakery on
a Sunday morning and buys 400 rolls, only to resell them to the people waiting outside at double the price.
Part 2: A Simple Game in a Complex World
Ward's plan could work because the global economy has become more and more complex. The price of cocoa has been rising -- seemingly unstoppably -- for the last five years. But this is only part of the global boom in commodities. Over the last year, the price of wheat has risen by $4.83 per bushel, to $9.03. In the same period, the price of a metric ton of corn has gone up from $3.46 to more than $7.00.
Commodities speculation fuels inflation in India, drives up the price of tortillas in Mexico, causes famines and fuels political unrest. Speculators act as accelerants -- and the smaller the market, the easier their game.
Cocoa makes up one of the world's smallest commodities markets. Indeed, the annual harvest amounts to only 3.5 million tons, with more than half coming from Ivory Coast and its eastern neighbor, Ghana. The average price per metric ton is £2,000, meaning that it takes only £7 billion to buy a year's harvest.
The cocoa market's simplicity makes it particularly vulnerable to speculative attacks and attractive for the billions of roving dollars and euros. Depending on the estimate, speculation in the commodities markets alone entails somewhere between $400 billion and $800 billion. Ten years ago, it was only about $5 billion.
Experts say the money comes from three sources: from private wealth investors or, in other words, the world's super-rich; from banks trading for their own accounts and at their own risk; and, finally, from pension funds in the West investing the retirement savings of millions.
A Delicate Balance
This development made adversaries out of two people who have never met. The world of one of them, Anthony Ward, is virtual. But the world of Hasso Nauck -- his company, his chocolate, his employees -- is real. He buys his raw cocoa in Ecuador because that's where the high-quality variety he needs is grown. But when the market price for cocoa goes up, the high-quality variety also gets more expensive.
Every day, workers at the Hachez plant in Bremen mix up products like the company's trademark "Brown Leaves." The 75 pieces, or 150 grams, of chocolate with a bittersweet aroma come in six different leaf shapes in metal tins that go for €6.50 apiece. Each new batch is finely adjusted by senior chocolatier Karsten Schnäckel.
"Brown Leaves" contain 77 percent cocoa. A high cocoa content is essential for chocolate of such high quality, and it naturally affects its flavor. But it also makes it susceptible to attacks by people like Ward. Indeed, when the price of cocoa goes up, Nauck can't just tinker with the ratio of ingredients, like adding more milk, sugar or butter. Instead, he just has to pay higher production costs.
The chocolate maker Mars has annual revenues of $30 billion, and the German brand Milka, owned by Kraft, has $49 billion. Compared to them, Hachez is a tiny operation, a mid-sized company with about 450 employees and annual sales well below the €100 million mark. Many Hachez employees have spent their entire working lives at the company, and 40-year anniversaries are not uncommon. Nauck says that these are the people he feels responsible for.
A Ripe Time for Attack
The adversaries in this duel were fighting with unequal weapons, and Ward was the more flexible combatant. His goal was to make cocoa scarce and to own as much of it as possible so that he could resell it for as much as possible.
His company, Armajaro, has the right kinds of people for such operations. It employs scouts known as "pod counters" in the key cocoa-producing countries. They regularly inspect the plantations, recording the number and sizes of the fruits and the condition of their trees. Ward has even had his own weather stations built in West Africa and elsewhere.
Last summer, it seemed like the right time for the attack had come. There were several reasons for this: First, after the real-estate bubble burst in the United States, there were billions floating around the world searching for new places to be invested. Second, in a developing short-term trend, demand for chocolate and cocoa was growing because the European economies had recovered from the financial crisis. And, lastly, since the cocoa trees in Ghana and Ivory Coast -- the key producing countries -- are getting too old, there had been several bad harvests in a row, and another bad harvest would reduce the supply even further.
Although cocoa is traded throughout the year in London, the contracts only come due on five dates: in March, May, July, September and December. The July date made the most sense for Ward's attack because chocolate makers like Hachez start producing for the Christmas season in the summer. At that point, the high price of cocoa was already a serious a serious problem for Nauck. Hachez can only pass on the higher prices of its raw materials to consumers to a limited extent. Indeed, chocolate is even more subject to a so-called threshold price than other products. Even the youngest consumers are aware of this threshold, and retailers are vigilant about not exceeding it.
Everyone agrees that chocolate ought to be more expensive. But it can't -- or consumers will simply stop buying it. For Nauck, this means that a rising raw cocoa price eventually becomes a threat to his company's very survival.
Part 3: The Cocoa Trap
The cocoa business is actually very straightforward. During the harvest, traders buy cocoa beans directly from farmers in places like Ghana and Ivory Coast and, later, they resell them to chocolate makers in Europe. Since traders can't know when manufacturers will buy their cocoa, there is an exchange, where traders and others can buy and sell goods at any time. Still, the downside for traders is that the price that the exchange offers is generally lower than the price that chocolate companies pay.
To make cocoa scarce, Ward had to manipulate how the cocoa business works. He had to lure traders away from the chocolate factories and convince them to sell their cocoa on the exchange, instead, because it was only there that he could buy large quantities of cocoa in an ambush-like maneuver.
Ward did this by buying thousands of cocoa contracts at the current daily price for delivery at a later date, when the price would presumably be higher. He was going long, betting that cocoa would become scarce. And he did his utmost to ensure that this would be the case.
On the London exchange, other speculators also started believing that cocoa would become scarce based solely upon the fact that Ward was going long. Asset managers, hedge funds and the fund managers at major banks also went long, betting that the price would continue to rise. In doing so, they drove it up even further. They also increased the share of cocoa in their overall commodities funds. The true value of the cocoa was no longer relevant; only the presumed value was.
Ward had set a trap. The bait was the attractively high price on the exchange, which allowed the traders to forget that they earn their bread and butter from the chocolate manufacturers. In the words of one trader, the price was as attractive "as two Swedish nymphomaniacs standing outside a gas station at night." The traders forgot their traditional customers and sold their cocoa on the exchange -- where Ward was waiting for them.
Ward apparently had to disguise his simple plan with red herrings. To cover up his tracks, he had several different brokers handle his buying orders. He pushed positions back and forth. And he juggled with the expiration dates, sometimes going long and sometimes going short. Or at least this is what everyone who was caught off guard by Ward's tactics says. Ward, who has decades of experience in the market, masterfully used the instruments of the exchange to deceive the market. And it was all completely legal.
Insiders estimate that Ward purchased about 50,000 futures contracts in the spring of 2010 alone, at an average price of about £2,300 a ton. Each contract entitled him to take delivery on 10 tons of cocoa, for a grand total of 500,000 tons of cocoa.
By mid-June, Ward probably owned futures contracts for more cocoa than was available on the exchange. Unfortunate speculators had bet against him in anticipation of falling prices. But now Ward had them in what market insiders call a "squeeze."
Belt-Tightening
This betting game is virtual. Its currency consists of claims, sometimes even claims to claims held by a third party. But it can still have a dramatic impact on the real world -- and on people like Nauck and those of his competitors who were not well stocked and were now starting to panic.
Nauck can try to buy cocoa at a good price. To do so, he has to pay attention to daily prices and to minute-by-minute fluctuations. But this only takes time away from what he really wants to do: make high-quality chocolate.
In the last two years, he has streamlined production, cancelled Christmas bonuses, waived his right to a significant share of the profits and, after lengthy negotiations with the works council, implemented cost-cutting measures among employees. For example, one worker now operates a stamping machine that was previously operated by both a technician and a machine operator. Nauck knows that the day could arrive when chocolate production is no longer profitable for Hachez.
The Grind Statistic
According to sales figures on the London exchange, at the beginning of July, Ward still owned about 24,000 contracts, each for 10 tons of cocoa. At that point, he could have closed out his positions by selling them and collecting his profits.
Or he could have waited. He could have gone all out and held the contracts until their expiration dates and then taken delivery on all the cocoa. The key question were: What would happen to demand? And would he be able to sell all the cocoa?
No one knew. Still, there is one critical number in the industry that can indicate demand. Once every three months, the Brussels-based European Cocoa Association (ECA) publishes the so-called "grind statistic," which indicates how many tons of raw cocoa are being ground into "cocoa mass," or paste, to actually make chocolate.
Three large companies dominate the global market for processing raw cocoa into cocoa paste: Barry Callebaut, Cargill and ADM. These big three have giant warehouses, and only they know how much cocoa paste they have in these warehouses. Indeed, by controlling the amount of cocoa mass stored in their warehouses, they control a large share of the demand for cocoa.
During the economic crisis, the grind statistic declined. Since consumers bought less chocolate, the industry processed less cocoa. The grind statistic increased in the first quarter of 2010 and, again, in the second quarter. The second-quarter statistic, which was published on July 14, must have confirmed Ward's suspicion that demand was up. If his plan was to corner the market, now was the right time to do it.
The Trap Is Sprung
On July 15, when the contracts expired, Ward took delivery on 240,100 tons of cocoa. And although the cocoa remained in the exchange warehouse, it was now his. It constituted about 7 percent of the annual global harvest. It was a bold move. He now owned vast amounts of cocoa. Ward hoped -- and many experts expected -- the price to continue to rise, to £3,000 or more per ton. If that happened, his plan would work out spectacularly in his favor.
But the price didn't rise. In fact, instead of rising, it began to fall. Within only one day after Ward had taken delivery on the 240,100 tons, the cocoa price fell by 3 percent in London, and it continued to fall thereafter. Within the first four weeks, it was down 13 percent.
Ward had no alternative but to wait it out. But every day was costing him money. For cocoa worth an estimated €775 million, and at an interest rate of perhaps 3 percent, he would have been paying about €1.9 million in interest every month and another €1.7 million in storage costs.
In early October, the number was released that Ward must have been pinning his hopes on: the grind statistics for the third quarter. But something had happened that no one in the industry had expected: At 331,192 tons, the figure was even lower than the grind statistic for 2009, the year of the financial crisis. Indeed, it was the worst figure in four years of steady increases. The big three were apparently reducing their unexpectedly high inventories of cocoa paste.
Saved by Civil War
The number sealed the fate of Ward's plan. What he needed now was a miracle. But what he got instead was a civil war.
In late November, Alassane Ouattara was declared the winner of the presidential election in Ivory Coast. But his rival, President Laurent Gbagbo, refused to abandon the presidential palace, leaving Ouattara no choice but to run the country from his hotel. Then fighting broke out and cocoa exports broke off. The raw cocoa sitting in the port of Abidjan was not being shipped. This drove up the price of cocoa to £2,400 per ton.
Things have since calmed down in Ivory Coast, and cocoa prices have once again fallen. But no one but Ward knows whether the turmoil protected him against a loss or helped him make millions with his massive speculation. He may have sold his cocoa too early, or he may have kept his cool and waited for the right time. Unlike the New York exchange, the London exchange does not require its traders to disclose the details of their deals.
Nauck was lucky. He bought his raw cocoa at the moment when the price reached its lowest point, £1,900 a ton. Though he made his move at the right moment, he knows that -- just like the cocoa farmers in Ecuador and West Africa -- he is still a hostage of the market.
Part 4: Efforts to Make the Game Fairer for Farmers
Yayra Glover has not been involved in this game until now, but he might just be able to change the way it is played. With his shirt untucked, Glover is driving a dust-covered Mahindra SUV along a red dirt road from Accra to Suhum, in Ghana.
Glover studied law and philosophy in Zurich, Switzerland. He eventually packed his books -- Kant, Max Weber, Che Guevara -- into a few boxes and boarded a plane to his native Ghana with dreams of radically transforming the cocoa trade.
Glover's idea is to give the farmers a bigger share of the profits. In doing so, he hopes to encourage them to stop selling their harvests to either the big, international traders or the exchange. Instead, he wants them to sell to him and at fair prices. With this strategy, Glover wants to drive international corporations -- and people like Ward -- out of Ghana.
Likewise, Glover wants to give the farmers self-confidence and order. He wants to make them strong and independent enough to no longer have to depend on the traders and to be able to sell their cocoa directly to manufacturers in the industrialized world, instead.
Glover has found a partner in Switzerland who has agreed to buy his cocoa at higher prices. In doing so, they have established a "fair-trade tunnel" between Suhum, in Ghana, and the Swiss town of Schwyz, where Glover's partner is based. By going this direct route, they shield themselves against speculators like Ward.
In fact, Nauck and Glover are natural allies and would make perfect partners. With consumers on their side, they would be unbeatable.
Dreams of a Better Future
It is early afternoon when Glover reaches Suhum. The path to the flat-roofed building where he lives and works winds up a hillside, past banana trees and construction sites.
The office at the front of the building holds three employees sitting at small desks with computers. The bedroom Glover uses when in Suhum is in the back. The room has a wooden bed, a stone floor, two ceiling fans and a few boxes of organic pesticide stacked in a corner. Next to the bed is a framed photograph of his four children, the youngest of which is eight.
The room next door is his office. A long dark bookshelf runs along an entire wall. Lining the shelves are 87 red-and-blue ring binders, each of them carefully labeled. "It's a little Swiss, isn't it?" says Glover with a Swiss accent.
Glover's filing system includes details on roughly 2,500 farmers from the Suhum region. Everything he knows about them is collected in the ring binders: how much land they own, how many cocoa trees they have and how much they harvest. The binders also contain statistics on fertilizer use, contracts and correspondence with the cocoa authorities.
Glover's office serves many different purposes: as a notary's office, a land registry office, an administrative office and an archive. He says he keeps these records so that they can know where they are and who they are. He sees the future of the farmers of Suhum gathered together in ring binders on a bookshelf.
Last year, Glover bought 500 tons of cocoa from the farmers in Suhum at fair-trade prices, which are a little higher than prices on the open market. Next year, he expects to buy about 2,000 tons. Compared with Ghana's annual harvest of 800,000 tons, 2,000 tons is a drop in the bucket. But it's still a beginning. Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
See's Candies sees bigger dairy than cocoa issue
Reuters
By Ben Berkowitz and Jim Marshall
Apr 29, 2011
* Raw material costs up 5.5 pct this year
* Not planning to raise prices again in 2011
OMAHA, Neb., April 29 (Reuters) - See's Candies is experiencing more commodities cost pressure from dairy than from cocoa, despite the high prices of cocoa beans and uncertainty in the market, the chief executive of the Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N)-owned business said on Friday.
See's, with around 200 shops and plans to add 10 more this year, is one of Berkshire's best-known consumer businesses. "The market's come back pretty well since the recession," CEO Brad Kinstler said in an interview outside the Qwest Center in Omaha, where Berkshire will hold its annual meeting Saturday.
See's raised prices 2.5 percent this year but will not raise them again, Kinstler said, despite a 5.5 percent rise in raw material costs.
While cocoa hit a six-week high Friday, Kinstler said the bigger problem was dairy, with butter and cream prices up 30 percent this year. Sugar prices are also 15 percent higher, he said. Kinstler added that cocoa availability had never been a problem for See's, even with exports from top global grower Ivory Coast choked off in recent months.
Callebaut bids to boost viability of Malaysian cocoa
By Jane Byrne ,
27-Apr-2011
Barry Callebaut, in a bid to meet its strategic need to diversify its cocoa origin and boost the viability of cocoa production in Malaysia, has announced a new research programme.
The Zurich headquartered industrial chocolate supplier said the new project, covering a total area of 10ha of an existing cocoa plantation, will include trials of agricultural techniques including new pruning and grafting methods, the use of organic fertilizers, organic cultivation approaches and agro-forestry principles.
A further area of focus will be improved post-harvest cocoa treatment techniques to enhance quality of the Malaysian cocoa bean and achieve ‘zero-defect’ status, said Callebaut.
A spokesperson for Callebaut told that this current research initiative is stemming from its ongoing collaborative work with the Malaysian Cocoa Board.
Last March saw the Swiss group teaming up with the Board in a project that involves Callebaut helping the country’s cocoa growers optimise their fermentation methods using microbial starter cultures, while utilising the Board’s research facilities.
The first preliminary results from the new crop cultivation trials are expected in June 2012, added the Zurich based company. It added that the new project is being conducted in collaboration with the Malaysian company Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad.
The Swiss group bought a 60 per cent stake in that planter’s cocoa and chocolate manufacturing unit – KLK cocoa - back in 2008 in order to expand its global cocoa processing capacities.
Earlier this month, Callebaut announced that it had also bought out the remaining 40 per cent stake in KLK, now operating under the name - Barry Callebaut Malaysia Sdn Bhd - to “further strengthen its footprint in fast-growing Asian markets.”
The cocoa unit is said to have annual sales of RM500 million (€99m).
Asian confectionary markets continued to grow for Barry Callebaut. In its half year results, it reported a significant increase in sales volume from the region, noting a hike of 9.4 per cent to 26,683 tonnes, led by India, Japan, Malaysia and China.
Callebaut CEO Juergen Steinemann noted, back in March 2010, that Malaysia and the Asia Pacific region provides it with logical cocoa sourcing alternatives to West Africa.
And he added that cocoa supplier’s controlled fermentation process would ensure that the taste of Malaysian cocoa would eventually match that of the West African bean and thus meet the demands of European and North America consumers used to the flavour of West African cocoa.
Malaysia and neighbouring countries currently produce about 15 per cent of the annual global cocoa harvest.
However, there is serious competition from other commodity crops such as rubber and palm trees to the existing cocoa plantations in Malaysia, according to Dato’ Dr Azhar Ismail, director general of the Malaysian Cocoa Board.
Last March saw Ismail welcoming the teaming up with Callebaut “as an excellent opportunity to further develop and sustain the cocoa industry in our country.
If our cocoa farmers can earn more, they will continue to grow cocoa. This is good for our economy as well as for the biodiversity of our agricultural sector.”
RI to host international conference on cocoa
Jakarta Post
04/28/2011
The Indonesian Cocoa Association (Askindo) will hold its fifth Indonesian International Cocoa Conference in Nusa Dua, Bali, July 7-8. The conference, titled “Working together for a better cocoa future”, will be attended by cocoa buyers, producers and experts from all over the world.
“Representatives of cocoa trading associations from several countries such as Ghana, Ivory Coast, the United States and some Asian countries will join the meeting,” Askindo chairman Zulhefi Sikumbang said in a media briefing ahead of the conference on Wednesday.
Zulhefi said the conference’ key focus was to discuss sustainability and certification for improved profitability, social and environmental conditions. The certification is to verify that the company can produce good, quality products and use environmentally-friendly technology.
Zulhefi said the association already had discussed the certification system with the Agriculture Ministry in 2009, but the government had yet to take any actions. “There are only two cocoa companies in Indonesia already certified by the foreign certification boards,” Zulhefi said, referring to the Rain Forest Alliance and UTZ. He hoped the government would register the National Standardization Board to get international recognition so that all the cocoa companies could be certified by the country’s certification board.
Zulhefi said cocoa from uncertified companies could be very cheap, a difference of about US$200 to $300 per ton. Cocoa for July delivery dropped £10, or 0.5 percent, to £1,897 ($3,143) a ton by 10:15 a.m. on NYSE Liffe in London on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.
The conference, which will be opened by Agriculture Minister Suswono, also will address cocoa’s global future, collaboration for sustainable cocoa and chocolate, and other cocoa business issues.
Other figures scheduled to speak at the conference include the International Cocoa Organization executive director Jean-Marc Anga, World Cocoa Foundation president William Guyton and Cocoa Merchants’ Association of America board member Ruth Moloney.
Indonesia accounts for around 15 percent of world cocoa production and is an important exporter of cocoa. However, Askindo predicted that the country’s cocoa export would fall from 320,000 tons in 2010 to 280,000 tons this year due to bad weather.
Global production in 2011-2012 will be 3.682 million tons, while usage is estimated to be 3.776 million tons, VM Group and ABN Amro Bank NV said in an email on Wednesday. (drs)
Socialist plan for Venezuela’s cocoa sector
Fresh Fruit Portal
April 28th, 2011
Venezuela’s government has announced plans to combine all the country’s cocoa-related entities to form the Venezuelan Cocoa Socialist Corporation, newspaper El Universal reported.
The government plans to release a list of all related organizations, companies, private associations and public associations within the next two months, the story reported.
The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the move came after Venezuelan government officials criticized the cocoa industry’s dedication to export markets and reservation for privileged social classes.
El Universal reported Venezuela has now decreed cocoa as a ‘first need’ or staple product, with the new socialist corporation set to administer all aspects of the supply chain.
Presidential decree 8157 states Venezuela’s Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Planning and Finance will need to “establish special financing terms that are more favorable…for granting credits to activities related to production, exchange, distribution, commercialization, storage, imports and exports of cocoa and its derived products, to establish economic incentives for its production”.
Venezuelan Chamber of Cocoa president Alejando Prósperi, told El Universal those involved in the industry needed to work closely with the government to increase domestic production, to avoid the industry repeating the coffee industry’s shift from exporter to importer. He said between 20% and 25% of national cocoa production was affected by rains in December, the story reported.
The story reported farmers were positive about the new initiative.
[pic][pic]
-----------------------
[pic]
Issue No. 437 25th – 29th April 2011
Inside THIS ISSE:
UP-COMING EVENTS IN THIS ISSUE
• ICCO DAILY COCOA PRICES
• LONDON (LIFFE) FUTURES MARKET UPDATE
• NEW YORK (ICE) FUTURES MARKET UPDATE
• FROM THE NEWS MEDIA
• TIT BITS
Do your health a favour, drink Cocoa everyday
‘It’s nature’s miracle food’
Others
Promotion & Consumption
Research & Development
Environmental Issue
Labour Issues
Business & Economy
Processing & Manufacturing
The Market
Production & Quality
Health and Nutrition
NEWS
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.