Cocoa’s Boom and Bust Is Rewriting Long-Held Rules of the Market
Cocoa beans drying on a rack at a farm in Kwabeng, Ghana.
Photographer: Paul Ninson/BloombergCocoa’s stunning rise and its equally remarkable slump are beginning to shake up the longstanding way of doing business in West Africa, the region that supplies the bulk of the world’s beans.
Ghana, the No. 2 producer, kicked off a process this week to loosen the tight state regulation of domestic prices. Discontent is simmering in top grower Ivory Coast as well, with traders holding off on buying beans for the upcoming mid-crop harvest in hopes of lower costs.