Ivory Coast rains have cocoa farmers on edge for new season as harvests improve in Nigeria
Businessam Staff
October 30, 2017
A month into the new cocoa season, farmers in top grower Ivory Coast are getting anxious, as heavy rains continue to flood roads and plantations and spark concerns about rotting crops. Many roads are unusable around Sassandra in the southwest, one of the major growing regions, and buyers’ trucks can’t get to the villages to collect […]
Malaysia palm oil output expected to rise 2.5% in 2018
Businessam StaffOctober 27, 2017
Palm oil production in Malaysia, the world’s second-largest producer, is expected to increase by 15.5 percent this year and will grow by 2.5 percent in 2018, the government said Friday. Malaysian output is forecast to rise to 20 million tonnes this year and to 20.5 million tonnes in 2018 due to better yields and expansion […]
Ghana delays start of cocoa season as it awaits loan funds
Businessam StaffOctober 1, 2017
Ghana will delay the start of the new cocoa season as it waits for the proceeds of a $1.3 billion syndicated loan to pay farmers, according to the head of the industry regulator. Purchases for the bigger of the two annual harvests will only commence in the middle of October, Ghana Cocoa Board Chief Executive […]
Rwanda, Nigeria sign deal with Blackpace Group to revamp potato production, processing
Businessam StaffSeptember 22, 2017
The government of Nigeria and Rwanda have signed multimillion dollar deals with a Nigerian investor, the Blackpace Africa Group, in an effort to revamp and develop the potato industries upscaling the production in the countries. as well as set up potato processing facilities in the both countries. The company is also expected to set up […]
Cocoa prices crashed, smugglers still making money
Businessam StaffSeptember 20, 2017
Much of Jamilatu Mohammed’s harvest of cocoa beans is sitting in a storage shed near her dilapidated mud house along Ghana’s western border when it should be on its way to factories of chocolatiers like Nestle SA. The mother of two and other small growers in the world’s no. 2 producer represent the casualties in […]
Nigeria cocoa output seen rebounding in 2017/18
Businessam StaffSeptember 15, 2017
Nigeria should see a bumper cocoa harvest in the coming season as late rains have helped boost pod production, the head of the Cocoa Association said Thursday. Sayina Riman, president of the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN), expects output for the new season which starts in October to hit between 300,000 tonnes and 320,000 tonnes, […]
Cameroon seeks to improve cocoa bean quality after declines, rewards farmers with best-quality crops
Businessam StaffSeptember 13, 2017
Cameroon is taking steps to encourage farmers to grow better quality cocoa after a deterioration in last year’s crop resulted in lower prices for the country’s beans. About 90 percent of Cameroon’s cocoa exports in the season through July were classed as Grade 2, the second of three quality ratings for beans, according to Trade […]
Avocados could get a lot more expensive under a new NAFTA
Businessam StaffSeptember 8, 2017
One day, an avocado’s a buck-fifty. The next, it’s twice that. And this week, just days after a much-ballyhooed markdown at Whole Foods, wholesale avocado prices hit a record high. If you think prices are unpredictable now, be warned: They could get a whole lot worse, some produce companies say, depending upon how the Trump administration renegotiates the North American Free […]
Ivory Coast weighs cocoa tax cuts to lift farmer pay
Businessam StaffSeptember 6, 2017
Ivory Coast is considering cutting taxes on buying and exporting of cocoa to allow for an increase in the minimum price paid to farmers in the upcoming season, according to a person familiar with the matter. The world’s biggest producer of cocoa is unlikely to raise the minimum price that it allows merchants to pay […]
Ivory Coast fears a fifth of cocoa crop may be lost to smuggling on farmers’ pay discrepancy with neighbor, Ghana
Businessam StaffSeptember 1, 2017
Ivory Coast’s cocoa regulator has forecast that the nation may lose a fifth of its cocoa crop to smuggling during the next harvest if neighboring Ghana refuses to cut payments to farmers after international prices fell, according to reports by Bloomberg The prediction by Le Conseil du Cafe-Cacao comes after the world’s biggest cocoa producer […]