Chocolate companies all over the world are sitting up and taking notice of what is going on in Africa.
For decades the biggest chocolate manufacturers have turned a blind eye to the appalling working conditions, unsustainable farming practices and child and slave labor, as long as they could get their cacao beans at the lowest possible price.
Now, with weather conditions severely impacting the cacao supply in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which accounts for 70+% of the world's cacao production, they are facing massive shortages and scrambling for a new supply.
Last week we received an email from a large confectionary company in Southeast Asia that was looking to secure 500 MTs of imported cacao to add to the 1,500 MTs of locally grown cacao they need… per month!
2 years ago we would not have been able to get on a phone call with a company of this size, and now they are reaching out to us. Samples of our cacao beans and cacao powder are being sent, and they are interested in a long-term relationship that could secure the cacao production from our 6 farms, totalling 192 hectares (480 acres) of cacao farmland, with 216,000 cacao trees in Panama and Belize.
3 and 4 years ago they were buying cacao for $1,700 a MT. Now they are paying over $8,000 a MT and they are buying up everything they can get their hands on.
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We have long believed that the cacao supply in Africa was in trouble and that consumers' buying behaviours would no longer support the conditions in Africa where cacao was being grown.
Eyes are turning now to Latin America, the original birthplace of cacao. Finally, these chocolate manufacturers will be forced to pay a fair price for their cacao, which will allow cacao farmers to not only survive but thrive.
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