Ghana to Introduce Flexible Cocoa Pricing; West Africa Faces Surplus and Price Slide

West African cocoa producers are adapting amid a volatile price cycle as Ghana moves to liberalize domestic pricing. The No. 2 producer plans to introduce automatic price adjustments tied to international markets and issue domestic bonds collateralized by cocoa beans to raise revolving funds. The move, set for parliament approval later this year and effective in the next main crop around October 2026, aims to clear a backlog of over 100,000 tons of unsold beans. The global cocoa complex has swung from an all-time high of nearly $13,000 per ton in 2024 to about $3,652 in New York futures as of February 14, 2026, amid a 400,000-ton surplus expected in the current season—the largest since the International Cocoa Organization began tracking in the 1980s. Cocoa prices in Ghana and Ivory Coast have lagged the rally and led the decline, eroding margins and creating supply chain clogs. Some CCC contracts in Côte d’Ivoire are being renegotiated, and traders are diversifying sourcing away from West Africa as contracts expire and harvests climb in South America. The International Cocoa Organization estimates the current season’s surplus will be the largest since the 1980s, with New York cocoa futures at their lowest since October 2023. The changes in Ghana could help stabilize the market and ease storage pressures, but the broader structural challenges remain.