Cocoa Supply Woes Worsen as Quality in Ivory Coast Declines

Cocoa grinders in Ivory Coast, the world’s top producer, are struggling with poor-quality beans with unusually high levels of waste material mixed into deliveries arriving from farms, piling on pressure to an already tight global market.

With the country’s mid-crop harvest now underway, the quality of the beans is poorer compared to the same period in previous seasons, according to two grinders, who asked not be identified discussing private information. Grinders, many of which are also major exporters, are now rejecting truckloads of beans or facing higher costs to clean and sort them, they said.