COCOBOD announces start of 2020/2021 main crop season

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has announced that it will pay GH¢316.80 per load of 30 kilograms for Grade I and II cocoa beans.

This was contained in a statement from the country’s cocoa regulatory which added that the payment will also involve the weighing of the raw beans (naked ex-scale) at a price of GH¢660.00 per bag of 64 kilograms gross.

The main cocoa crop season for 2020/2021 will commence on Friday 2nd October 2020 with the regulators targeting 900,000 metric tonnes before the end of the crop season.

A tonne of 16 bags is estimated at GH¢10,560.00.

COCOBOD has already signed up to the syndicated loan of US$1.3 billion meant to finance the purchase of cocoa for the 2020/2021 crop season with the first tranche expected to be drawn down this month.

In an effort to boost cocoa farmers and ensure cocoa sustainability, the government last month announced the increment of new Cocoa Producer Price by 28 per cent to GH¢10,560 per metric ton starting from October 1, this year.

Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are responsible for 65 per cent of the raw cocoa beans used in making chocolates.

Both countries are receiving a Living Income Differential (LID) of US$400 per ton of cocoa, which is an additional earning from the world market price for its farmers.

The Living Income Differential will guarantee some stability to the producer price of cocoa and sustain the industry in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.