Cocoa World Production and Markets
Because cocoa farming is predominantly carried out in small to medium sized farms, often in remote areas, reliable production statistics are difficult to obtain.
Statistics are often estimates and therefore need to be treated with caution. FAO data puts annual production of cocoa beans at around 4.4 million tonnes, from across 10 million hectares, at an average yield of 0.44t/ha.
Two-thirds of all world production is in Africa – 17% in Asian countries and 14% South America. FAO figures suggest that the biggest producer is Cote d’Ivoire with 1.35 million tonnes in 2011, followed by Indonesia and Ghana. Cocoa is mainly processed into cocoa butter, powder, paste/liquor and chocolate confectioneries. Cocoa butter is also used in the manufacture of tobacco, soap and cosmetics, but mainly for confectionery products.
| Cocoa Bean Production | |||
| Top Producers | |||
| Production (t) | Yield (t/ha) | Area (ha) | |
| Cote d'Ivoire | 1,350,320 | 0.54 | 2,495,110 |
| Indonesia | 712,200 | 0.42 | 1,677,300 |
| Ghana | 700,000 | 0.42 | 1,650,000 |
| Nigeria | 400,000 | 0.32 | 1,270,000 |
| Cameroon | 272,000 | 0.39 | 697,000 |
| Brazil | 248,524 | 0.37 | 680,484 |
| Ecuador | 224,163 | 0.56 | 399,467 |
| Togo | 100,000 | 0.78 | 130,000 |
| Peru | 56,500 | 0.67 | 84,114 |
| Dominican Republic | 54,279 | 0.35 | 153,219 |
| Vietnam* | 6,000* | 0.6 | 25,700 |
| World Total | 4,395,657 | 0.44 | 10,003,270 |
| *Figures from Vietnamese Government - production is from around 11,000ha only. | |||
| Ref: FAOSTATS - 2011 | |||
| Cocoa - Apparent Domestic Consumption | |
| Consumption ('000 t) | |
| Europe | 1,734 |
| North America | 794 |
| Latin America | 363 |
| Asia and Oceania | 510 |
| Africa | 116 |
| World Total | 3,516 |
| Ref: ICCO - 2008-09 | |
International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) statistics show that in the ten years up to 2010 world cocoa production rose at an average annual growth rate of 2.5%. Cocoa processing activity followed a similar upward trend increasing by 2.4% over the same period. Europe remains the largest processor by some margin, but the most dynamic region is Asia, now recording an average annual growth rate of 7%. Europeans alone consume around almost half of the world’s cocoa per year, 85% of which is imported from West Africa.
Consumption of chocolate confectionery products increased by 11% between 2000 and 2008 in countries including the major European countries, USA, Brazil, Japan and Australia, corresponding to an annual growth rate of 1.3%.
Although the overall volume of chocolate consumption in the mature markets increased at a relatively slow pace, the cocoa and chocolate market has seen some changes in consumers’ taste and in the perception of the benefits of chocolate products on human health. For example, in mature markets there has been an increase in the consumption of ‘healthier’ ‘premium’ chocolate, in particular, dark high cocoa content chocolate.
This is increasingly seen as an affordable luxury. Around 80% of the world’s chocolate is marketed by just six transnational companies.
