October 29, 2014
Global cocoa prices have increased 7.9% so far this year in part because of concern that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa will spread to Ivory Coast and Ghana which combined produce 60% of the world’s cocoa. Ecuador’s cocoa production is forecast to reach a record 240,000 tons this year and is on pace to continue the trend into 2015 with an estimated production of 260,000 tons. Meanwhile Colombia is promoting an anti-narcotics campaign pushing for the substitution of the production of cocoa for coca – the raw material for making cocaine, and is estimated to produce 51,000 tons of cocoa this year. If possible scenarios do play out and global cocoa demand shifts to Ecuador and Colombia, prices will almost certainly climb as Ecuador and Colombia produce more expensive grades of cocoa than other producing regions.
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