The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Randy Abbey, has voiced concern that neither cocoa farmers nor the Board benefited from the recent surge in global cocoa prices, which lasted for about eighteen months.

According to Mr Abbey, the period of record-high prices instead left both farmers and the state cocoa regulator burdened with significant debt, despite expectations that the price rally would translate into improved earnings across the sector.

He noted that in the history of COCOBOD, producer prices had never been adjusted as sharply as they were during the past eighteen months. Yet, he lamented that global cocoa prices, which at their peak reached around US$12,000 per tonne and traded between US$9,000 and US$10,000 for much of the period, have since begun to decline.

Mr Abbey said the sustained price rally should have yielded substantial gains for both cocoa farmers and COCOBOD. However, he explained that these benefits were eroded by challenges during the 2023 cocoa crop season.

He revealed that COCOBOD had sold cocoa forward at an average price of about US$2,600 per tonne during that season but was unable to deliver approximately 333,000 tonnes as contracted. This shortfall, he said, severely affected the Board’s finances and limited its ability to take full advantage of the global price increase.

Mr Abbey made the remarks when members of the Best Cocoa Farmers Association of Ghana paid a courtesy call on him to discuss issues affecting cocoa production and farmer welfare in the country.