Exclusive video: World Cocoa Conference 2024 event preview
Michel Arrion, executive director, ICCO. Pic: ICCO
The fifth edition of the World Cocoa Conference is set to take place starting this weekend in Brussels, Belgium, bringing together more than 1,000 senior international delegates from across the industry and wider chocolate industry.
Confectionery Production is the exclusive media partner for the event, and editor Neill Barston offers an exclusive video interview (watch below) for this year’s event, speaking to Michel Arrion, executive director of the show’s organiser, the ICCO cocoa organisation.
He discussed its core issue of farmer income, market conditions and how industry can respond to the present major challenges facing the sector, which has seen crop prices rise to record nominal levels on the New York and London Futures commodities trading platforms.
This year’s show includes major contributions from Mars, Hershey and Puratos (Belcolade), as well as representation from governments in Ghana and Ivory Coast, with the addition of its ‘Global Village’ of exhibitors that includes Buhler, AAK, Farmforce, Ghana Cocoa Board, Rainforest Alliance, the Port of Antwerp Bruges.
Key cocoa organisations and movements including the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa, the German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa, the French Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa, and the Dutch Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa, and Beyond Cocoa, as well as a broad range of related industry organisations. For any show news ahead of the event, contact editor, Neill Barston at [email protected]