Market News
West Africa facing 10% drop in cocoa output in 2025/26, industry sources say - REUTERS
Summary
- Cocoa-leading region coming off two below-average harvests
- Industry researchers downgrading their earlier 2025/26 forecasts
- Flower, young pod mortality rates high, despite improved weather
ABIDJAN, July 9 (Reuters) - West African cocoa production, which has faced two successive below-average harvests, is likely to see another 10% decline in the upcoming 2025/26 season despite marginally improved weather conditions, industry sources told Reuters.
Ivory Coast and Ghana - the world's two leading producers - along with Nigeria and Cameroon, account for over two-thirds of global cocoa output. But they are struggling with shifting weather patterns, ageing tree stocks, disease and destructive small-scale gold mining.
Pod counters employed by cocoa exporters and trading houses are currently visiting plantations to carry out crop assessments for the 2025/26 season, which opens in October.
