* Ivory Coast plans to fix price at 1,200 CFA francs/kg
* Smuggling into Liberia, Guinea likely to rise due to price disparities
* Ghana to review cocoa prices periodically
ABIDJAN, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Ivory Coast is expected to keep the fixed price paid to cocoa farmers for their beans at 1,200 CFA francs ($2.14) per kilogram for the 2026/27 main crop season that begins September 1, four industry and two government sources told Reuters on Friday.
The West African country paid farmers a record 2,800 CFA francs per kilogram at the start of the 2025/26 season, before cutting the guaranteed price to 1,200 CFA francs in March as global cocoa prices retreated sharply from their historic highs.
The price is at the bottom end of a 1,200-1,500 CFA francs range proposed by the regulator to the government.
The price range was based on the average achieved forward sales of the 2026/27 main crop made by the regulator, the Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC), between March and June this year, sources said.
“We have a clear idea of the CCC’s average sales, and we know the guaranteed price for the 2026/27 main crop could not exceed 1,300 CFA francs,” the director of a European export company based in Abidjan said, adding the 1,200 CFA francs price was more realistic.
In early March, cocoa was trading on global markets at around £2,100 per metric ton, though it crept up slowly to around £3,800 by late June. It has since topped £4,800.
Government sources said the CCC, which must sell around 80% of the projected harvest in advance in order to set a fixed farmer price, was forced to conclude deals for more than 1.1 million tons at low prices.
“Our simulations indicate that maintaining the guaranteed price… is the best solution and the least costly option for public finances because, beyond that, we will have to subsidize the price once again, and that will cost billions,” a government source said.
COCOA SMUGGLING INTO GUINEA, LIBERIA AND GHANA
Neighbouring Ghana, the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer, is also expected to keep its farmer price unchanged for the new season, four industry sources told Reuters.
Ghana set the price at 41,392 cedis ($3,797) per metric ton, or around 2,000 CFA francs per kilogram earlier this year. Under a new law, the farmer price will no longer be fixed for the entire season, and the Ghana Cocoa Board will review prices periodically.
Low cocoa prices in Ivory Coast could trigger smuggling into Ghana, Liberia and Guinea, which don’t have cocoa taxes and where major foreign buyers are based, according to industry sources.
Liberia and Guinea don’t grow large quantities of cocoa but have been exporting higher volumes for the past three seasons, according to exporters and industry stakeholders, who estimate annual volumes at 100,000 metric tons in Guinea and 30,000 metric tons in Liberia. ($1 = 560.0000 CFA francs) (Reporting by Ange Aboa in Abidjan; Additional reporting by Emmanuel Bruce in Accra; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian and Amindeh Blaise Atabong; Editing by May Angel and Lisa Shumaker)
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