European Cocoa Association shows regional cocoa grindings fall amid challenging market
The latest quarterly figures have been released by the European Cocoa Association, which showed that cocoa grindings are down by 4.7% amid challenging conditions.
According to the organisation’s findings, regional grinding rates stood at 345,730 tonnes for the third quarter, against a result of 362,940 the same time the previous year.
As previously reported by Confectionery Production, the cocoa market, as with industries across the market has been affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The situation has led to concerns from sector observers that despite confectionery groups agreeing to pay a premium of $400 a tonne (known as the living income differential) from this autumn to offer enhanced support for farmers, a corresponding drop in the value of cocoa means the support system may not be enough to help raise underlying rates of poverty within key growing communities of Ghana and Ivory Coast.
While demand for snacks has risen over the past six months, confectionery sales have been hit by the closure of many key outlets that traditionally form the backbone of many manufacturers’ expected sales.
In related events, the European Cocoa Association had been set to engage with the EU- Africa Business Forum (EABF) next week, but his has now been postponed in light of the pandemic.
This follows a joint decision to also postpone the EU-AU Summit, initially planned for 28-29 October 2020. A new date for the Summit has yet to be set.
