Bars of chocolate may be going up in price in the coming months. That’s because Armajaro Holdings has just bought up 240,000 ton of cacao beans. Companies like Tony Chocolonely, which produces Dutch fair trade chocolate, are not happy.

Eveline Raijmans, director of Tony Chocolonely, fears it will affect the price of cacao. For the past five years her fair trade company has been campaigning to improve the cacao and chocolate market, so that cacao farmers get more money and slavery is banned. What does she think of the biggest cocoa purchase in 14 years made by Armajaro, a large trader in cocoa, coffee and tea?

”It’s really a huge amount. Around 25 to 30 percent of the entire harvest of a country like the Ivory Coast. That’s the largest cocoa producing country in the world, responsible for an average of 60 percent of the supply. When somebody buys so much cacao in one go, I assume it’s speculation.”

Ivory Coast
Cocoa is a fast growing market. Also in Asia the demand for chocolate is increasing. Will the supply be able to keep up? The majority of cocoa beans are produced in West Africa, especially in the Ivory Coast.

"In 2004 there was a civil war, the situation was very unstable. It has become quieter now, but little has been invested in the cocoa plantations. Everybody is worried about the supply."

Not transparent
There are only two markets where cocoa beans are traded: New York and London. If a quarter of the supply from the Ivory Coast has been bought up, all the other dealers have to fight over the rest. This means that consumers will end up paying more for their chocolate. Ms Raijmans expects the price of a 200 gram bar of chocolate to increase by as much ten to 20 euro cents.

She thinks the cocoa market is not transparent. The umbrella organisation for cocoa dealers, the ICCO, is also calling for more transparency.

"In Africa it’s all quite clear: the farmers sell their beans to middlemen or corporations. They are then transported to the harbour and shipped off. I presume it continues the same way it used to for bananas. They can, so to speak, be sold ten times before the cargo is unloaded in the harbour of Amsterdam, which is still the largest cocoa port."

Supermarkets
Most Dutch supermarkets don’t make their own chocolate, but just buy the product. They work with contracts that are renewed every few months.

“But at the beginning of the year you make your own contracts with your buyers, the supermarkets. That’s when you have to determine a price. You cannot change these prices every week.”

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