COCOBOD reduces cash injection

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• tomtom 10 years ago

  NO MENTION OF INCREASE IN PRODUCER PRICE OF COCOA FOR 2013/2014 CROP SEASION - TANIBA MAHAMA

  NO MENTION OF INCREASE IN PRODUCER PRICE OF COCOA FOR 2013/2014 CROP SEASION - TANIBA MAHAMA

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• Onua Francis 10 years ago

  The govt should sack dr korankye, FOFIE ,asante poku William Mensah and atta krah before there can be sanity in the cocoa industry.what happened at public accounts committee. Someone should be jailed

  The govt should sack dr korankye, FOFIE ,asante poku William Mensah and atta krah before there can be sanity in the cocoa industry.what happened at public accounts committee. Someone should be jailed

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• Kwabena Ansa 10 years ago

  Mr. President Mahama, Do you really know what you are doing as the President of Ghana? Listen to your self in a statement reported to have come from your mouth: "Recent challenges faced by the countries in Europe should serve ...
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  Mr. President Mahama, Do you really know what you are doing as the President of Ghana? Listen to your self in a statement reported to have come from your mouth: "Recent challenges faced by the countries in Europe should serve as a wake-up call for us to explore other emerging markets" unquote. Mr. President, you don't have to see the economy going South before you start looking for alternative market. It should have been one of your priorities the moment you took office even if the economy was in high gear. You are not making Ghanaians feel proud of you.
  Your government is usually described by most Ghanaians as very corrupt and also since you took office , you haven't done anything substantial that you could be proud of. If they were to grade you, your grade would be "F".

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• KUTRIKU 10 years ago

  WHO SAYS MAHAMA AND EVEN THW NDC AS A PARTY KNOW THEY ARE DOING?THEY ARE JUST THERE TO LISNE THEIR POCKETS AND TJOSE OF THEIR CRONIES AT THE EXPENSE OF THE ORDINARY GHANAIAN. CORRUPTION AND THIEVERY HAVE BEEN THE TRADEMARK OF ...
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  WHO SAYS MAHAMA AND EVEN THW NDC AS A PARTY KNOW THEY ARE DOING?THEY ARE JUST THERE TO LISNE THEIR POCKETS AND TJOSE OF THEIR CRONIES AT THE EXPENSE OF THE ORDINARY GHANAIAN. CORRUPTION AND THIEVERY HAVE BEEN THE TRADEMARK OF THE MILLS AND MAHAMA GOV'TS.

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• KOFI NIMAKO 10 years ago

  All that could be said by the President via the Minister of Finance is "President Mahama reiterated government’s commitment to continuously support the cocoa sector". But in the speech it was significantly highlighted that ...
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  All that could be said by the President via the Minister of Finance is "President Mahama reiterated government’s commitment to continuously support the cocoa sector". But in the speech it was significantly highlighted that a lot had been done by government to boost the production of cocoa in the country. It is agreeable that the benefits are not limited to cocoa farmers but the generality of Ghanaians. If it so, then how will government sustain the cocoa farmers to continuously produce what they do to improve the lot of Ghanaians? Are sustaining high yield by increasing the prices of inputs and expect the farmers to produce the quantum being bandied about? It has been stated earlier last month that the mass spraying of cocoa cannot be sustained. In the meantime the producer price has not been considered and that statement was issued. Let us be careful the way the industry is been managed lately. Bonus is in arrears for three years and syndicated loan for the purchase of cocoa was reduced this year to $1.2 billion to purchase the approximated one million tonnes as against $2 billion for one million tonnes about two years ago. What logic? When will the producer price for the 2013/14 season be announced? For me it is NEVER NEVER true that Ghana attained the one million tonnes target a few years ago. If it is true why the decline? If the rural economy improved per sustainable policies, why is the tonnage declining? Something is wrong with the industry and there is a need to address it before it gets out of gear.
  
  The main crop season is about to be announced and chancing through the ICCO Daily prices of cocoa beans for September 11 and 12, 2013 were: ICCO daily price (SDRs/tonne) were 1727.20 and 1719.38 for the two days; ICCO daily price (US$/tonne) were 2624.87 and 2607.48 for the two days; London futures (sterling/tonne)1681.00 and 1671.33 for the two days; New York futures (US$/tonne)2593.67 and 2575.33 for the two days. Will the government be SERIOUSLY be informed by these prices bearing in mind also that bonanza periods would be experienced during the season.
  
  Let us sustain the industry. BUT THE ARREARS IN BONUS SHOULD BE PAID BEFORE THE NEW PRICE OF COCOA IS ANNOUNCED. GOD BLESS GHANA

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• Kofi 10 years ago

  Chocolate lovers' bitter pill: prices are going up
  
  
  Lewa Pardomuan and Marcy Nicholson, Reuters
  
  
  
  Sep. 13, 2013 at 10:13 AM ET
  
  Chocolate prices are on the rise, just in time for the holidays. A picture shows h ...
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  Chocolate lovers' bitter pill: prices are going up
  
  
  Lewa Pardomuan and Marcy Nicholson, Reuters
  
  
  
  Sep. 13, 2013 at 10:13 AM ET
  
  Chocolate prices are on the rise, just in time for the holidays. A picture shows hot chocolate being moulded at the Barry Callebaut chocolate factory ...
  GEORGES GOBET / AFP - Getty Images
  
  Chocolate prices are on the rise, just in time for the holidays. A picture shows hot chocolate being moulded at the Barry Callebaut chocolate factory in Wieze, Belgium.
  
  Chocoholics may have to dig deeper to pay for their favorite treat this festive season as sweet makers face sky-high prices for cocoa butter, the special ingredient that gives chocolate its melt-in-the-mouth texture.
  
  Increased demand from Asia's expanding middle class and a turnaround in sales in big consuming countries have seen butter prices nearly double to more than $7,000 a tonne (1.1023 ton) from $4,000 a tonne six months ago.
  
  With supplies tightening and demand showing no sign of slowing ahead of the Christmas and New Year period, some chocolate makers may have little choice but to pass on the increased costs to consumers.
  
  In the secretive industry, which has only a handful of big players, chocolatiers tightly guard the recipes that distinguish their products, and are equally cautious on prices.
  
  Major sweet makers contacted by Reuters declined to comment on whether the butter price hike would lead them to raise the retail price for their chocolate bars, although Nestle said any increase in price is always the last resort.
  
  But some smaller chocolate makers have already pushed up prices.
  
  "We have increased our chocolate prices by 30 to 40 percent since January and most of our customers are not happy about it," said Richard Lee, chief executive officer of Aalst Chocolate, a Singapore-based chocolatier that sells chocolate to bakeries, ice cream makers and food manufacturers
  
  "With the festive season just around the corner, the price of (cocoa butter) will rise even further and surely hit the bottom line of chocolate makers," he said.
  
  Growing appetite
  Chocolate lovers are set to munch through about 7.4 million tonnes of the confectionary in 2013, up nearly 2 percent on a year earlier and worth about $110 billion, according to global market researcher Euromonitor International.
  
  
  That's up from about 6.9 million tonnes in 2009, when consumption dipped due to the global financial crisis, with demand being driven by growing affluence in emerging nations.
  
  "In the regions like Asia-Pacific or Latin America, we are seeing more middle class consumers buying chocolates compared with five or six years ago because they have the money to do it," said Francisco Redruello, senior food analyst at Euromonitor International.
  
  "That is what's driven the growth of chocolates."
  
  At the same time, sales normally surge in Europe and North America around Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter, putting pressure on confectionary companies to stock up.
  
  "Trying to find uncommitted, accessible large volumes of butter that's available from now through December, it's problematic," said Jeff Rasinski, corporate director of procurement for Blommer Chocolate Co, the biggest grinder in North America.
  
  Companies that have not already booked butter for the next few months will be the most vulnerable to price increases, said Rasinski.
  
  Tight supplies
  Cocoa beans are ground to produce roughly equal parts of cocoa butter and cocoa powder, which is also used in chocolate bars, as well as for lower quality uses in biscuits, ice cream and drinks.
  
  
  Strong demand for butter for premium products and an over-expansion by grinders created left-over mountains of powder, forcing grinders to cut capacity last year and leading to a sharp drop in butter supply.
  
  The so-called "butter ratio", which is used to determine prices for the product has soared to five-year highs. The butter ratio is set by the grinder, depending on supply and demand, and multiplied by the London or New York cocoa futures price to determine the price of cocoa butter.
  
  The ratio is currently at about 2.9 in the United States, compared with about 1.0 a year-and-a-half ago, while cocoa bean prices have also jumped.
  
  Ratios and futures usually move in opposite directions, evening out butter prices swings, but butter has refused to fall even as London and New York bean futures rallied to a 1-year high this month on concerns over output in top producer Ivory Coast and worries about a global bean deficit. [COCOA/ASIA1>
  
  At present prices, butter accounts for about $7 of the cost of a kilogram of chocolate.
  
  The strong demand may give grinders more bargaining power, selling butter only to buyers who also are willing to take powder as well.
  
  But for now the focus is on limited butter supplies.
  
  Barry Callebaut , the world's biggest industrial chocolate maker which sells to Unilever , Nestle , Mondelez and Hershey Co , indicated that price adjustments were sometimes inevitable.
  
  "Most prices our customers pay for our products do move as do the raw material market prices," said spokesman Raphael Wermuth in an email, without elaborating.
  
  In Asia, prices for some chocolate products have already risen, and industry experts say more are expected.
  
  A Singapore-based French chocolatier, who also sells gourmet chocolate bars, chocolate cookies and lollipops online said: "The management wants to increase the price but we haven't done it yet. Butter prices have become so high"
  
  Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

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