The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) monthly report published last Tuesday reveals that the average differential paid in European markets for cocoa from Côte d'Ivoire fell by 42% in July compared to its levels at the start of the campaign. , in October 2020, from $481 to $278 per ton.

July was hardly a good month for the cocoa sectors in West Africa, both in terms of prices and volumes. The trend was worse for Ghana which saw its differential fall by 64%, to $374 in July from $614 in October. As for Nigeria, the drop was 46%, to $219 against $407. It should be noted that the Ecuadorian bean suffered the same misfortune, losing 39% of its value to $219 against $407 at the start of the campaign. Added to this was the poor performance of the volumes actually delivered at the end of the July contract on the London futures market, with 7,960 tonnes (t) against 9,280 t in July 2020. And it is Nigeria that fared best, representing 66% of the total with 5,250 t of this source delivered, ahead of the 2,610 t (33% of the total) from Côte d'Ivoire.

It should be noted that the volumes of graded cocoa on the futures markets increased almost sixfold in New York, rising from 16,354 t to 95,487 t, while in London, the increase was 14% to 136,800 t. Nigeria got away with it, with 54,960 t against 22,540 t over the same period a year earlier. All the other sources saw their graded volumes contract over this period: very slightly for Côte d'Ivoire with 33 180 t over the October 2020-July 2021 period against 33 530 t a year earlier, but more strongly for Cameroon with 43,200 t against 55,000 t and for Togo with 3,240 against 4,980 t. On the ICE Futures US, all the graded cocoa was from Côte d'Ivoire, ie 9,989 t.