LONDON/ABIDJAN — The steepest dive in cocoa demand in a decade has thrown into jeopardy a plan by top producers Ivory Coast and Ghana to guarantee some two million farmers a living wage, sources within the countries' regulators said. Leading chocolate-makers agreed to a proposal from the African nations last year to charge the industry a premium for cocoa beans and guarantee a minimum income to farmers who earn just $1 a day. But the scheme, set to come into effect this October, was based on expectations that international cocoa prices would stay within average ranges. Instead, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demand has driven them to their lowest in nearly two years and they are expected to stay weak for at least a year, the industry says. "It is not certain we will be able to guarantee farmers the amount originally expected," a source at Ivory Coast's cocoa regulator the Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC), which sets the official farmer price each season, told Reuters.

Source: International New York Times July 17, 2020 10:18 UTC