International cocoa prices are rising after a call for a ban on cocoa from Ivory Coast. Civic organisations are asking chocolate manufacturers to take up their responsibilities. “Many of these companies are not transparent on where they stand.”

By Serginho Roosblad and Enoch Darfah Frimpong, Hilversum

Internationally recognised president Allessane Ouattara’s call to put a ban on export of cocoa from Ivory Coast is being heard. The Dutch Green Party (GroenLinks) has asked the Dutch government to support Ouattara’s call for the embargo.

The Dutch capital Amsterdam is the largest trans-shipment port of cocoa in the world. Cargill, one of the biggest global trading companies of cocoa, have already made an announcement this week that it is suspending cocoa purchases from Ivory Coast. However a ban on importing from the world’s largest cocoa producer could have some long term effects on the global cocoa trade.

Prices rise
Bob Stuurman of the Dutch cocoa importer Huyser Möller ensures that the consumer will still be able to buy chocolate. “There will be enough chocolate bars in the shops next week and even in the weeks ahead,” Mr. Stuurman says. “I don’t see an immediate problem in the weeks to come. Forward sales and productions are all based on contracts which were concluded earlier so the price for that is set.”

However, prices for cocoa have been rising rapidly since the tumult in Ivory Coast. Traders now pay 3394.56 dollars per tonne compared to 2910.31 dollars per tonne in November last year when Ivorians went to the polls. Dutch chocolate manufacturer Verkade expects that, if there is a significant increase of cocoa prices, prices for consumer will have to rise too at one point. So consumers may have to pay a higher price for a simple chocolate bar in the second half of 2011 when new contracts between traders and manufactures will be concluded.

Cocoa importers like Mr. Stuurman say that the bulk of the Ivory Coast’s crop have already been exported as we are in the middle of the harvest season. “Quite a number of cocoa has already been registered before Ouattara’s announcement was made.” This cocoa will probably be released so there will be still a flow of cocoa from ships heading to Amsterdam.

World Economic Forum
It is rather ironic that the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland which started this week is co-chaired by one of the world’s largest manufacturer of chocolate, Nestlé. Avaaz, an international civic organisation, hopes that Nestlé will address the issue at the forum. “We have started an online petition to persuade multinationals to ban the cocoa from Ivory Coast,” says Alex Wilks, campaign director of Avaaz.

Wilks: “We have been trying to contact Nestlé, but they have not given us an answer yet. Many of these companies are not transparent on where they stand. All we are calling for is the head of Nestlé to take the honest and principle approach that he is advocating at Davos and extent that to his own operation in Ivory Coast.”

Smuggling
A month-long ban on cocoa exports is likely to fuel smuggling into neighbouring countries like Ghana. But according to the spokesperson of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Noah Amenyah, any company found to have purchased smuggled cocoa would be sanctioned.“We will not accept any such practice especially because it could compromise the quality of the Ghanaian bean,” Amenyah says.

Amenyah says the Ghana National Security had intensified operations on the border to ensure that the commodity was not being smuggled into the country. However, there are concerns about effective patrolling on the Tano river on the Ghana -Ivory Coast border.