• Côte d’Ivoire will fix the 2025/26 farm-gate cocoa price at CFA 2,500/kg ($4.46), the highest ever.
• The increase represents a 39% jump from last season’s main harvest price of CFA 1,800/kg.
• Smuggling risks remain high as Ghana pays $5/kg, a 12% increase.

West Africa dominates global cocoa supply. After Ghana announced new rates in August, Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s top producer, will launch its 2025/26 cocoa marketing season in October.

Sources at the Coffee-Cocoa Council (CCC) told Reuters that the government will set the farm-gate price at CFA 2,500 ($4.46) per kilogram. The official launch is scheduled for October 1. They said this would mark the highest farm-gate price ever paid to farmers.

If confirmed by the Agriculture Ministry, the new rate will exceed last season’s main harvest price of CFA1,800 by 39%. It will also surpass the CFA2,200 level paid during the mid-crop by 14%.

Analysts say the hike could encourage farmers to sell their beans through official channels. However, the outlook for supply remains weak.

Industry players warned as early as June that Côte d’Ivoire faced a third straight year of production decline in 2025/26. They cited adverse weather and the spread of swollen shoot virus disease, which cuts yields.

The higher price in Côte d’Ivoire may not prevent cross-border leakage. In Ghana, authorities pay farmers $5,000 per ton, or $5 per kilogram, up 12%.

In April, the CCC reported that over 100 tons of cocoa, coffee, and cashew cross illegally each week into neighboring countries from western Côte d’Ivoire.

This article was initially published in French by Stéphanas Assocle

Adapted in English by Ange Jason Quenum