(Corrects fourth paragraph to show Ivory Coast premium is minus, not positive, 125 pounds, and fifth paragraph to show Ghanaian beans are of higher quality)
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Ivory Coast and Ghana on Tuesday jointly published for the first time the premium for the coming month that chocolate-makers and cocoa merchants will pay for their high-quality cocoa.
The two West African countries, which together produce more than 60% of the world’s cocoa, announced plans earlier this month to publish the so-called origin differential in what they said was a bid to bring greater transparency to the process.
The countries’ cocoa boards say buyers had been negotiating down the origin differential since the introduction in 2019 of another premium, the Living Income Differential (LID), which was meant to support often impoverished farmers.
Ivory Coast’s origin differential for June has been set at minus 125 pounds (minus $157.70) per tonne while Ghana’s has been set at minus 60 pounds per tonne, according to a statement by the joint Cote d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative.
The difference between the differentials is a result of the higher quality of Ghanaian beans.
The origin differentials in both countries have often dropped below zero, eroding gains for farmers from the LID of $400 per tonne.
“Our ambition is to have transparency among the sector players and avoid having the differential origin used to neutralise the LID,” Alex Assanvo, who runs the joint initiative, told Reuters on Tuesday.
($1 = 0.7926 pounds)
(Reporting by Ange Aboa; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Chris Reese and Richard Chang)
