In 2019/2020, the world cocoa market could see an 85,000-tonne bean deficit. The announcement was made on Friday by the International Cocoa Organization (Icco). According to them, global production should reach 4.83 million tonnes or 79,000 tonnes more than in 2018/2019.
More specifically, the harvest in Côte d’Ivoire is set to increase by 26,000 tonnes to 2.18 million tonnes in 2019/2020, while production in Ghana should also grow, with a volume of 850,000 tonnes. According to Icco, it will be important to keep a close eye on the mid-crop for the world’s two leading producers because of the dry weather and lack of rain over the past two weeks.
As for world grindings, industrial producers’ demand for beans should be lower because of the high prices put in place by certain producers. The volume of grindings should, therefore, only grow by 1.2% this season (to 4.86 million tonnes). This compares with an increase of 4.5% a year earlier. As a reminder, the cocoa market deficit was estimated at 107,000 tonnes in 2018/2019.
Source: Agence Ecofin