West Africa has been seeking fortune through cocoa production since the mid to late 19th century, but have not had much luck. Ghana and the Ivory Coast produce 60% of the world’s cocoa but mostly sell unprocessed beans. Their cocoa export earnings are less than a tenth of the world’s chocolate sales, for the true power lies in a small group of trading firms and chocolate makers in rich countries. Trying to “claw up the value chain”, Ghana is close to finalizing a $600 million loan from the African Development Bank and is seeking help from China to build a state-run processing plant. While observers see cocoa as a test-case for African industrialization, it is unlikely that it will bring much revenue or jobs. There have, however, been some successes. Twenty one percent of the world’s cocoa is ground in Africa, a six percent increase since the beginning of the decade. In addition, the Ivory Coast grinds almost a third of its beans and rivals the Netherlands as the world leader. The Ghanaian government even gives firms in “free zones” tax breaks and gives discounts on smaller light crop beans to encourage global processing. It might seem that the cocoa industry is leading western africa in the right direction, but its unforgiving geography is slowing them down. Most of the value in chocolate comes from marketing and branding. Since its consumers are mainly in Europe and North America, transporting the product through tropical climates has proven to be a difficult task. With chocolate consumption in Africa being low, it’s no wonder that producers can’t make a decent profit. Ghana, however, has decided to create its own brand, calling it 57 Chocolate. Maybe that will encourage more African inhabitants to buy it and create more revenue for the workers.
I think it’s a shame that Africa is the one that has the main ingredient needed to produce the chocolate, but most of the money and recognition ends up going to richer countries that actually have the tools to “create” the product. I can only imagine how much time and effort it takes to grow, harvest, and grind up the cocoa, so it’s only fair that African cocoa processors make half of the profit since they play a big role in chocolate production. Unfortunately, I don’t think that will happen since much of the world is focused on what they can do to be the most powerful and wealthy. Hopefully China will help Ghana build a state-processing plant so they can have a better chance of improving their struggling economy.