Former President Kufuor and ICCO Push for African Cocoa Exchange to Reclaim Global Pricing Power

Former Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor has called for the structural transformation of Africa's cocoa economy, arguing the continent should treat cocoa as strategic economic infrastructure comparable to gold or oil. Speaking at the inaugural Africa Cocoa Finance & Investment Forum (ACFIF 2026), convened at the London Stock Exchange on May 6, Kufuor highlighted a stark disparity: Africa produces approximately 70 percent of the world's cocoa beans yet captures less than two percent of the global chocolate market.

The Details

Kufuor delivered the keynote address at ACFIF 2026, where he pressed for urgent action to correct what he described as a fundamental structural imbalance in the global cocoa trade. "Africa produces approximately 70 per cent of the world's cocoa beans, yet captures less than two per cent of the global chocolate market. This structural imbalance must be urgently addressed through deliberate capital mobilisation, industrialisation, and value addition," he stated.

His remarks framed cocoa not merely as an agricultural commodity but as strategic economic infrastructure that warrants the same policy attention and investment priority accorded to sectors such as gold and oil. The call comes as African cocoa-producing nations continue to supply the vast majority of raw beans to international markets while remaining largely excluded from the higher-value segments of chocolate manufacturing and retail.

Michel Arrion, Chief Executive of the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO), reinforced the message in his own address at the forum. Arrion highlighted that Africa produces more than 70 per cent of the world's cocoa yet remains a price taker, with global prices largely determined in London and New York. He voiced strong support for the establishment of an African Cocoa Exchange, arguing it would enable the continent to reclaim price-setting power currently concentrated in European and American futures exchanges.

The conference also formally advanced the "Industrial Africa Cocoa Vision 2050" roadmap, which sets a specific target for Africa to process at least 50 percent of its cocoa within the continent.

Context

The economic scale of the cocoa and chocolate sector underscores the stakes of the debate. According to forum documentation, global trade flows of cocoa and chocolate products were approximately USD 88 billion in 2024, with the wider industry valued at USD 170 billion. Africa's cocoa exports totalled USD 18.2 billion in 2024, representing 16 percent of the continent's agricultural exports.

Those figures illustrate the gap between raw bean production and finished product revenue. While African nations dominate the cultivation and export of unprocessed cocoa, pricing power and value addition have historically resided in consumer markets outside the continent. The concentration of futures trading in London and New York means that producers, rather than setting terms, respond to prices established through financial instruments traded far from the farms where the commodity originates. The combination of dominance in raw output and marginal participation in downstream revenue has placed African economies in a position where they supply the essential input for a USD 170 billion industry while claiming a fraction of its value. That dynamic, underpinned by futures pricing set in London and New York, has left producing nations bearing supply risk without commensurate returns.

What's Next

The Industrial Africa Cocoa Vision 2050 roadmap provides a measurable policy benchmark for governments and regional institutions, with its target of processing at least 50 percent of African cocoa within the continent. The proposal for an African Cocoa Exchange, backed by the ICCO, represents a structural attempt to shift price discovery away from London and New York and into African financial centres. Whether African governments and regional institutions can mobilise the capital, regulatory coordination, and industrial capacity needed to deliver on both fronts remains the central question following the conclusion of ACFIF 2026. The forum's location at the London Stock Exchange served as a symbolic backdrop to the push for African nations to move from supplying raw material to commanding a central role in the global cocoa economy. Both the exchange proposal and the Vision 2050 roadmap face the practical test of whether political will can be converted into institutional and financial commitments in the years ahead.