The International Cocoa Trade

This is a thoroughly updated and revised edition of a best selling title. It has been written to help those involved in the industry by accessing information about the trade and creating a better understanding of the markets as a whole. The book covers: history and development, agronomics and marketing, actual and futures markets, and their contracts together with the product's supply and demand, its quality and lastly its processing.

Over the past few years the cocoa market has had to modify how it operates. Continued low prices, fewer companies trading, and both the perceived and real element of del credere risks have brought about the change. Those that remain have had to return to the fundamentals of their business - knowing the needs of their clients and above all, knowing the commodity. This affects everyone directly and indirectly involved in cocoa. In the past, exporters could rely on dealers sorting out some of their problems, and the factories off-loaded much of the risk of delivery onto the dealer. Current trading conditions make this more difficult. People outside this chain now have larger roles in cocoa than in the past, in particular, the banks, but also the shipping companies and the warehouses. All those in the chain of trade, from the exporter, dealer, and broker through the factory must improve not only their understanding of the market but of the difficulties faced by others in the commodity. The new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated. It reflects changes such as the effects of trade liberalization in cocoa, the use of vegetable fats in chocolate manufacture, and the increase in bulk cocoa. It provides the details of the new LIFFE contract, and the upcoming CAL and AFCC contracts. The International Cocoa Trade helps all those involved in the industry. It supplies information about the cocoa trade and creates a better understanding about the industry as a whole. Starting with the history of European and North American development of cocoa, the book covers agronomics and marketing, actuals and futures markets, contracts, supply and demand, quality, and processing.

‘An overview of the history of cocoa, the factors affecting its production and consumption as well as how the trade is conducted, various risks mitigated, and by whom. ...The International Cocoa Trade is a work designed to inform all on the subject of cocoa and an essential guide for those involved in its trade.’ Dr J. Vingerhoets, Executive Director, ICCO Cocoa is a valuable commodity, and the cocoa trade involves many different parties from growers and exporters through dealers and factories to those trading futures and options and the banks they deal with. The International Cocoa Trade provides an authoritative and comprehensive review of the cocoa trade at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and the main factors that drive and affect that business. The opening chapter of the third edition examines the history and origins of the international cocoa trade, and its recent developments. The agronomics of cocoa production are discussed in chapter two whilst chapter three deals with the environmental and practical factors affecting cocoa production. Chapters four, five and six cover issues around the export and trading of physical cocoa, including the actuals market, the physical contracts used and the futures and options markets. In chapter seven, the international consumption and stocks of cocoa are reviewed with chapter eight discussing the issue of quality assessment of cocoa beans for international trade. Finally, chapter nine focuses on the end product, examining the processing of cocoa beans and the manufacture of chocolate. Updated appendices provide copies of some of the most important documents used in the cocoa trade, including contracts, sale rules and world production statistics. This comprehensively updated third edition of The International Cocoa Trade ensures its continued status as the standard reference for all those involved in the production consumption and international trading of cocoa. Provides an authoritative and comprehensive review of the cocoa trade at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and the main factors that drive and affect that business Examines the history and origins of the international cocoa trade, and its recent developments featuring a discussion of environmental and practical factors affecting cocoa production Explores issues concerning the export and trading of physical cocoa, including the actuals market, the physical contracts used and the futures and options markets

This publication examines the vertical and horizontal integration in the cocoa industry and its potential impacts on stakeholders along the value chain, in particular small cocoa farmers who constitute the backbone of cocoa production worldwide. It contends that the concentration pattern observed at all segments of cocoa GVC may have contributed to a high level of efficiency, but could become problematic, in particular if it fosters oligopsonic/monopsonic or monopolistic/oligopolistic behaviour in the industry with detrimental effects for small players. It also discusses the extent of integration of cocoa farmers into international markets by assessing the transmission of international cocoa prices to the domestic prices paid to farmers. The results suggest that transmission has increased with trade liberalizing reforms undertaken by cocoa producing countries, but, overall, the outcomes are mixed, so far. The reforms have increased the exposure of farmers to the vagaries of international markets, but they are not associated with a significant, if any, increase in the share of world prices of cocoa accruing to farmers. In order to make cocoa cultivation a more viable source of livelihoods for farmers, and ensure a sustainable global cocoa economy, it would be essential for governments and other stakeholders to implement policies that enable cocoa farmers to increase their incomes. The publication is useful for governments of cocoa producing countries, development practitioners, including agricultural economists and the private sector, with an interest in empowering farmers, and in the development of a sustainable cocoa economy. Ultimately, it should make an invaluable contribution to the debate on how to reduce poverty, and attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with their commitment to ''leave no on behind'', especially in cocoa farming communities.

This Guide describes trade and industry practices, as well as regulations applying to cocoa. It discusses customs procedures; systems and techniques used at each stage of the cocoa supply chain; trends in cocoa manufacturing and processing; electronic commerce; cocoa organic farming; fair trade; sustainable production; and environmental issues. It also provides a list of main sector-related trade and industry associations; and appendices that contain detailed statistical data and list of relevant Internet websites.

One of the largest food commodities exported from the developing countries to the rest of the world, cocoa has gained increasing attention on the global market—raising many questions about its quality, sustainability and traceability. Cocoa Production and Processing Technology presents detailed explanations of the technologies that could be employed to assure sustainable production of high-quality and safe cocoa beans for the global confectionary industry. It provides overviews of up-to-date technologies and approaches to modern cocoa production practices, global production and consumption trends as well as principles of cocoa processing and chocolate manufacture. The book covers the origin, history and taxonomy of cocoa, and examines the fairtrade and organic cocoa industries and their influence on smallholder farmers. The chapters provide in-depth coverage of cocoa cultivation, harvesting and post-harvest treatments with a focus on cocoa bean composition, genotypic variations and their influence on quality, post-harvest pre-treatments, fermentation techniques, drying, storage and transportation. The author provides details on cocoa fermentation processes as well as the biochemical and microbiological changes involved and how they influence flavour. He also addresses cocoa trading systems, bean selection and quality criteria, as well as industrial processing of fermented and dried cocoa beans into liquor, cake, butter and powder. The book examines the general principles of chocolate manufacture, detailing the various stages of the processes involved, the factors that influence the quality characteristics and strategies to avoid post-processing quality defects. This volume presents innovative techniques for sustainability and traceability in high-quality cocoa production and explores new product development with potential for cost reduction as well as improved cocoa bean and chocolate product quality.

This book, written by global experts, provides a comprehensive and topical analysis on the economics of chocolate. While the main approach is economic analysis, there are important contributions from other disciplines, including psychology, history, government, nutrition, and geography. The chapters are organized around several themes, including the history of cocoa and chocolate -- from cocoa drinks in the Maya empire to the growing sales of Belgian chocolates in China; how governments have used cocoa and chocolate as a source of tax revenue and have regulated chocolate (and defined it by law) to protect consumers' health from fraud and industries from competition; how the poor cocoa producers in developing countries are linked through trade and multinational companies with rich consumers in industrialized countries; and how the rise of consumption in emerging markets (China, India, and Africa) is causing a major boom in global demand and prices, and a potential shortage of the world's chocolate.

Periodic cycles and waves are characteristics of global capitalism. The contraction in world trade during the Great Depression of the 1930s stands out as the strongest adverse shock to international trade in modern history. This book uses the Nigerian cocoa industry’s encounter with the world economy of the 1930s to knit together a gamut of themes ranging from the social formations of production to the forces of demand and supply, and price fluctuations and stabilization, as well as the protest movements against monopoly capitalism. It examines the Nigerian cocoa industry within the international economy of the inter-war years, in order to demonstrate how the dynamics of the international capitalism of the 1930s such as the Great Depression and the fluctuations in commodity prices affected the cocoa industry and the peasant cocoa producers in colonial Nigeria. It provides an interesting case study of the impact of international capitalism on the periphery economy, as well as the consequences of economic dependence on the external market. This book will be an indispensable resource for historians, economists, anthropologists and the general reader with an interest in the areas of international political economy, depression economics, world commodity trade, and agriculture and its related industries.