Cocoa main crop 2026/27: what Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana pay farmers

For the 2026/27 main crop, Ivorian cocoa farmers get just 1,200 CFA francs per kilo, around €1.83. That is 57 per cent less than at the start of last season.New farmgate prices in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the world market price, harvest risks and what it means for German chocolate.

Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are the two most important cocoa countries in the world. Before each season, both set a fixed minimum price that farmers receive at the farm gate. After the record price of 2024, both had raised their prices sharply. Now, after the crash on the exchange, the correction follows.

We converted the CFA franc at the fixed rate of 655.957 francs per euro. US dollars and pounds are converted at the ECB reference rate of 30 October 2026 (€1 = 1.1172 US dollars = 0.8338 pounds). The ECB does not publish a reference rate for the Ghanaian cedi, so there we give the dollar values from the sources. You’ll find the big picture of the cocoa year in cocoa prices in 2026.

Côte d’Ivoire: farmgate price more than halved

Agriculture minister Bruno Koné announced the price on 1 September 2026. For the main crop, which runs until 28 February 2027, farmers get 1,200 CFA francs per kilo. That matches the mid-crop price, which the government had cut in March 2026 to stimulate sales. At the start of the 2025/26 season, the record price had still been 2,800 francs.

The government justified the price with forward sales. The Coffee-Cocoa Council (CCC) sells a large part of the harvest in advance. According to the Ecofin agency, almost a million tonnes of the new main crop had been sold by June 2026. The prices were well below those of the previous year. The farmgate price should be as high as possible but financially sustainable, the government said. For coffee, the country now pays 1,300 instead of 1,700 francs per kilo.

For farmers, this is a hard cut. Per tonne they receive 1.2 million instead of 2.8 million francs, around €1,829 instead of €4,269. According to a study from February 2026, cocoa farmers earn 67 per cent of their household income from bean sales on average. You can read about the consequences for income and child labour in cocoa: child labour, poverty, deforestation.

Ghana: a new law, the 70 per cent rule and a cash shortage

Ghana set its price on 25 September 2026: 42,400 cedis per tonne. That is 2.4 per cent more than before. Under the new 2026 cocoa law, farmers must receive at least 70 per cent of the realised free on board (FOB) export value. According to the cocoa authority COCOBOD, the new price equals 71.18 per cent.

The 2025/26 season was turbulent. It started in August 2025 at 51,660 cedis per tonne, then 5,040 US dollars. In October 2025 the government raised it to 58,000 cedis. In February 2026 came the cut to 41,392 cedis, around 3,580 US dollars. The reason: Ghana’s cocoa had become too expensive for buyers, and COCOBOD had owed farmers money for months.

The dollar values apply to the date in question. At today’s ECB rate, 3,580 US dollars equal around €3,204 (our conversion). Per kilo, Ghana now pays 42.40 cedis. Compared with the peak of October 2025, the price is around 27 per cent lower (our calculation).

The exchange: from record to crash and halfway back

In December 2024 a tonne of cocoa reached a record 12,906 US dollars on the New York exchange. In 2025 the price fell by more than half. On 17 February 2026 it slipped below 3,100 US dollars, its lowest level since May 2023. It has recovered since: on 29 October 2026 the December contract closed at 5,459 US dollars, and in London at 4,156 pounds.

The London closing price of 29 October converts to around €4,984 per tonne. For comparison, by our rough calculation: the Ivorian farmgate price of €1.83 per kilo is just over a third of the current exchange price. The comparison is imperfect, because the harvest was sold in advance at earlier, lower prices.

The industry measures cocoa consumption by grindings. In the third quarter of 2026 they rose by 3.2 per cent in Europe to 348,215 tonnes. In Germany they rose by 3.6 per cent to around 98,275 tonnes. The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) estimates a small surplus of 37,000 tonnes for 2024/25. Its secretariat is holding back data for 2025/26 for now.

Smuggling, disease, El Niño: the risks for the new harvest

The low price in Côte d’Ivoire could fuel smuggling. According to a report by the magazine The Meridian50, an estimated 100,000 tonnes a year already leave via Guinea and 30,000 tonnes via Liberia. Ghana, conversely, hopes its higher price will curb smuggling. On top of that, workers are leaving the farms for illegal gold mining.

The trees themselves are also a problem. Many plantations are old, and there is also the viral disease swollen shoot. Both push yields down. The analysts at StoneX expect only around 1.775 million tonnes for Côte d’Ivoire in 2026/27, about 11 per cent less than the previous year. According to a market report of 26 October, deliveries to Ivorian ports since the start of the season were 43 per cent below the previous year.

In early October, the US weather agency NOAA put the probability of an exceptionally strong El Niño from October to December at 83 per cent. The ICCO also warns of the effects of El Niño on the harvest. From 30 December 2026, the EU Deforestation Regulation also applies to large and medium-sized companies. Ghana has built a national traceability system for it. More on this in EUDR: coffee and cocoa.

Chocolate in Germany: cheaper cocoa is slowly coming through

In the supermarket, the cocoa crash only shows with a delay. According to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), chocolate still cost 21.8 per cent more in October 2025 than a year earlier. Bars cost as much as 30.7 per cent more. In December 2025 the price of a bar was 69 per cent above its 2020 level. In early 2026 large retailers cut the prices of many own brands for the first time, and a bar of milk chocolate cost 89 cents.

According to Destatis, imported raw cocoa was 27.7 per cent cheaper in August 2026 than a year earlier, but 7.2 per cent dearer than in July. For the coffee, tea and cocoa group, the office reports consumer prices 3.3 per cent lower in September 2026 than a year earlier. The press release does not include a current figure for chocolate alone. Manufacturers point to long-term contracts and hedging, so price cuts only reach the shelves after months.

Our recommendations

For farmers in West Africa, autumn 2026 is a setback. In Côte d’Ivoire the price has more than halved, and Ghana is keeping it just above the level after the cut. As a buyer, you’ll probably see chocolate get cheaper only slowly. Whether that lasts depends on the weather in the coming weeks and the harvest until February.

All product details are based on manufacturer and retailer information; we have not tested the products ourselves.

Last updated: 31 October 2026.

Our selection is editorial, there are no paid placements. Links marked * are affiliate links to Amazon Germany (amazon.de): if you buy through them, we receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. We have not tested the products ourselves; pros and cons are based on manufacturer information and retailer descriptions. Prices are guide prices from German shops as of October 2026, and price and availability on Amazon may differ.