Market News

ACCRA, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Ghana will ban the export of raw cocoa beans by 2030, Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson said on Thursday, as part of a phased plan to process the crop locally.

• The West African nation, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer, will process at least 50% of its cocoa locally by 2028 and all of it by 2030, Forson told parliament while presenting the 2027 budget.
• Ghana currently processes between 30% and 40% of its beans locally.
• It has installed domestic processing capacity of 504,780 metric tons, but existing processors have been operating below 50% of capacity because most beans are sold on the international market.
• Domestic capacity will expand beyond primary grinding into cocoa liquor, butter, cake, powder, chocolate, cosmetics and other finished products, Forson said.
• “The country that grows the bean must retain a far greater share of the industry built around it,” he said.
• Ghana harvested 781,000 tons of cocoa in the 2025/26 season, but production is expected to fall by 16% this season.