"Ghana, Ivory Coast to boycott meetings over cocoa price dispute"

" Ghana, Ivory Coast to boycott meetings over cocoa price dispute \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n\r\n Ivory Coast \u00a0and\u00a0 Ghana\u2019s cocoa regulators \u00a0will boycott industry meetings in Brussels next week due to a dispute over pricing that they say has seen multinational chocolate companies resist measures to lift farmers\u2019 incomes.\r\n\r\nThe two countries, which together produce more than 60% of the world\u2019s cocoa, impose two premiums on their beans aimed at tackling farmer poverty.\r\n\r\nOne premium, known as the origin differential, has dropped below zero in recent years under pressure from traders, effectively cancelling out part of another premium, the $400 per tonne\u00a0Living Income Differential\u00a0(LID).\r\n\r\nBoth countries said in July that they would no longer sell cocoa with a negative origin differential, fixing it at zero for Ivory Coast and at +20 pounds sterling ($22) per tonne for Ghana.\r\n\r\nBut companies including some of the world\u2019s major chocolate makers and cocoa traders, which account for around 90% of purchases, are pushing for origin differentials as low as -200 pounds per tonne, the regulators said.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe chief executive is not attending the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) meeting in Belgium and none of the executives at COCOBOD will be there,\u201d said Fiifi Boafo, spokesman for COCOBOD, Ghana\u2019s cocoa regulator.\r\n\r\nYves Brahima Kone, the director general of Ivory Coast\u2019s Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC), also said he would not attend the WCF meeting or any other industry meetings in protest.\r\n\r\nAlthough Ivory Coast said last month it had sold some contracts with a non-negative premium, it is now having difficulty selling them.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe major chocolate brands have resisted and tried to find means to circumvent payment of the LID,\u201d said COCOBOD\u2019s Boafo, accusing multinationals of waging a \u201csilent war\u201d against the farmers\u2019 premium.\r\n\r\n\u201cA direct rejection of the LID would give brands bad publicity since the LID represents the economic pillar of sustainability, therefore erosion of the origin differential was the easier target,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nThe two regulators did not name any companies in their comments.\r\n\r\nMajor players Cargill, Olam and Barry Callebaut declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. Others including Nestle, Mondelez, Hershey and Mars Wrigley, and traders Touton, CEMOI and Ecom Trading, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\r\n\r\nSustainability programmes launched since 2008 and aimed at tackling issues such as child labour have also benefited companies more than farmers, said the CCC\u2019s Kone. Ivory Coast\u2019s cocoa production has almost doubled in less than 15 years under the programmes, which has pushed down prices.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe are considering new ways to address this issue with the industry, including banning access to our cocoa farms for their sustainability programs,\u201d Kone said.\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n "

"Ghana, Ivory Coast to boycott meetings over cocoa price dispute"

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