Cocoa price up GH¢63 — World price, FX rate not disclosed

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has increased the producer price of cocoa for the 2026/2027 season by just GH¢63 per 64-kilogramme bag, taking the price from GH¢2,587 in the 2025/2026 season to GH¢2,650.

The adjustment means that cocoa farmers will receive GH¢1,008 more per tonne, with a tonne comprising 16 bags of 64 kilogrammes.

The producer price per tonne has therefore increased from GH¢41,392 to GH¢42,400, representing a 2.4% increase between the two seasons.

COCOBOD says the new producer price represents 71.18% of the realised gross Free-On-Board (FOB) value of cocoa.

However, the announcement has left critical information undisclosed, raising questions about how the 71.18% producer share was calculated and the basis on which the new farm-gate price was determined.

World price not disclosed

In announcing the new price, COCOBOD did not state the world market price used in determining the GH¢2,650 per bag.

This omission is significant because international cocoa prices are a major component in determining the value of Ghana’s cocoa and, consequently, the revenue available for distribution along the cocoa value chain.

Cocoa futures were trading towards US$5,500 per tonne, while the spot price was hovering around US$5,600 per tonne on Friday, September 25, 2026.

Yet the price announcement did not indicate whether either of those market references—or another international benchmark—was used in calculating the new producer price.

COCOBOD also did not disclose the Cedi-to-Dollar exchange rate applied to arrive at the new price.

Without the international cocoa price and exchange rate used, it is difficult to independently verify the regulator’s claim that GH¢2,650 per 64-kilogramme bag represents 71.18% of the realised gross FOB value.

Spot or futures price?

Another major gap is whether the new producer price is based on the spot market price or the futures market price, particularly given Ghana’s long-standing practice of selling cocoa forward.

A futures market price is based on a standardised agreement to buy or sell a specified quantity of cocoa beans at an agreed price on a future date.

A spot price, by contrast, reflects the price for an immediate transaction and physical delivery of the commodity.

The distinction is important because Ghana has traded on the futures market for more than 50 years, using a fixed producer or farm-gate price to provide farmers with protection from day-to-day movements in global cocoa prices.

While that system provides a degree of stability for farmers, it can also mean that local producer prices lag behind sharp movements in international markets.

The question is particularly relevant because the Government had earlier indicated that it was adopting the spot price approach. COCOBOD’s latest announcement, however, does not state clearly which market reference was used, leaving uncertainty over the pricing methodology.

Price volatility over two seasons

The latest adjustment comes against the backdrop of substantial changes in Ghana’s cocoa producer price over the past two seasons, including significant increases followed by reductions.

For the 2024/2025 season, the producer price was increased to GH¢48,000 per tonne, equivalent to GH¢3,000 per 64-kilogramme bag.

That represented a dramatic increase from the GH¢20,928 per tonne, or GH¢1,308 per 64-kilogramme bag, announced at the opening of the 2023/2024 season.

The increase between those two levels amounted to an unprecedented 129.36%.

The sharp increase occurred against a major surge in international cocoa prices.

Spot prices rose from around US$2,000 per tonne in March 2023 to a peak of US$12,072 per tonne in February 2024, before falling to US$7,960 per tonne in September 2024.

On the futures market, where Ghana has traded for more than five decades, cocoa prices moved from US$2,200 per tonne in March 2023 to above US$10,000 per tonne in February 2024, before declining to US$6,246 per tonne in September 2024.

Price rises again in November

The producer price was increased again in November 2024, reaching GH¢3,100 per 64-kilogramme bag.

During the 2025/2026 season, the Government subsequently increased the producer price on August 4, 2025, to GH¢3,228.75 per 64-kilogramme bag.

That price was stated to represent 70% of the gross FOB value of US$7,200 per tonne, using an average exchange rate of GH¢10.25 to the US dollar.

By mid-2025, international cocoa prices had stabilised somewhat but remained around US$10,000 per tonne, representing a staggering 300% increase compared with the beginning of 2024.

The August 2025 price increase, however, attracted public criticism, with concerns that the adjustment was inadequate relative to prevailing international cocoa prices and expectations surrounding farmer remuneration.

GH¢3,625 price later reversed

The controversy was also linked to a campaign promise by the then opposition party to increase the cocoa producer price to between GH¢6, 000 GH¢7,000 per 64-kilogramme bag.

Following the public uproar, the Government subsequently increased the producer price to GH¢3,625 per 64-kilogramme bag, effective October 3, 2025.

That price did not last. It was subsequently reduced to GH¢2,587 per bag, creating a significant reversal from the GH¢3,625 level and setting the benchmark from which the latest 2026/2027 increase has been calculated.

Only GH¢63 increase

Against that history, the new GH¢2,650 price represents a relatively modest increase of GH¢63 per bag over the GH¢2,587 price at which the previous season ended.

For a tonne of cocoa, the increase is GH¢1,008, taking the producer price from GH¢41,392 to GH¢42,400.

The increase of 2.4%, however, needs to be considered alongside the significant movements in international cocoa prices and the much higher producer prices recorded during the previous two seasons.

The new price also remains GH¢975 below the GH¢3,625 producer price announced in October 2025.

It is GH¢350 below the GH¢3,000 per bag price for the 2024/2025 season and GH¢450 below the GH¢3,100 price announced in November 2024.

Transparency gap

The central issue arising from the latest announcement is therefore not only the size of the increase but the lack of critical information needed to assess the pricing formula.

COCOBOD has provided the final producer price and stated that it represents 71.18% of realised gross FOB value, but has not disclosed the international cocoa price, the Cedi-Dollar exchange rate, or whether the calculation is based on the spot or futures market.

Those figures are particularly important because the Government has previously provided the underlying assumptions when announcing producer prices.

For example, the August 2025 price of GH¢3,228.75 per 64-kilogramme bag was accompanied by the stated benchmark of US$7,200 per tonne, a producer share of 70% and an exchange rate of GH¢10.25 to US$1.

The absence of comparable information in the latest announcement makes it difficult for farmers, industry stakeholders and the public to independently assess how the GH¢2,650 price and 71.18% producer share were derived.

As Ghana enters the 2026/2027 cocoa season, the new price will determine the immediate farm-gate revenue of cocoa farmers. But beyond the GH¢63 increase, the unanswered questions over the benchmark price, exchange rate and pricing mechanism leave an important part of the new cocoa pricing equation unclear.