27MAR24- The price of cacao for delivery in May reached an all-time high of $10,080 per metric ton on Tuesday, March 26, before ending the day and settling at $9,622 on the New York Stock Exchange. The cost of cacao has more than tripled over the past year and will increase by 129% in 2024, according to specialized studies. The situation surprises even the members of the National Association of Cacao Exporters (Anecacao).

Last year, cacao farmers received up to 120 dollars per quintal of dry cocoa and since this week its price was around 420 dollars or more, that is, an increase of 250%, a little more than triple, indicates Merlyn Casanova, executive director from Anecacao. “This level of prices had never been seen in Ecuador, not even when there was the cacao boom (between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century). The big winners are the producers who receive prices never seen before. This helps a lot so that they can reinvest this surplus in their plantations, take care of the harvest and post-harvest and do the appropriate treatment,” says Casanova.

The most beneficiaries are the small, medium and large cacao producers, agrees Gustavo Pazmiño, leader of Sustainability and Food Chain for Yara Ecuador: “This semester of the year is the one of low productivity in the country, since this increases from from July to November. The harvests are not the highest in these months, of the national annual production 30% occurs in the first semester, the rest in the entire second semester." So, there will be greater use if these prices are maintained until the second half of 2024, adds the specialist.

In Ecuador, according to Anecacao, there are about 150,000 cacao producers. 70% of them are small producers who farm on an average area of ​​up to five hectares or less. They are distributed in rural areas, most of them remote and poorly connected to the main road networks. In the country there are about 600,000 hectares planted with cacao.

Ecuador went from being the eighth largest global cacao exporter in 2007/2008 to third place in 2022/2023. It is surpassed by Ivory Coast and Ghana, African countries that currently have production problems due to climatic conditions, which represents an opportunity for Ecuador to gain more market...." -

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