International buyers are increasingly turning away from Ghanaian cocoa due to its relatively higher prices compared to beans from other producing countries, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has revealed.
COCOBOD Chief Executive Officer Dr Randy Abbey disclosed this during a media briefing, noting that while more than 530,000 metric tonnes of cocoa have been sold under the current financing arrangement, nearly 50,000 metric tonnes remain unsold.
“The buyers now find our beans as too expensive, and therefore they have shifted to other markets where they can get the beans far cheaper, because these are business decisions,” Dr Abbey explained.
He attributed the shift in buyer preference to price differentials, which have made Ghana’s cocoa less competitive on the global market. The unsold stock, he added, is likely contributing to delays in payments for some farmers whose produce has not yet been offloaded.
“We have sold over 530,000 tonnes of the crop. We have another under 50,000 that we are yet to find buyers for, and that is when the buyers started shifting,” Dr Abbey said.
The development follows the collapse of the traditional syndicated loan model for cocoa financing, which has forced COCOBOD to explore alternative funding mechanisms amid challenges in the sector.
COCOBOD indicated that it is actively engaging stakeholders to resolve the pricing issues and secure buyers for the remaining cocoa, while working to address knock-on effects on farmer payments and the broader industry.