The Managing Director of the Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC), Dr Wisdom Kofi Dogbey, has called on industry players in Africa to increase investment in value addition and downstream processing to enable the country to tap into high-value sectors beyond chocolate production.
He said that although Africa produces about 70 to 75 per cent of the world’s cocoa, the continent earned less than 10 per cent of the estimated $130 billion global chocolate market, a gap he described as a major opportunity for value addition and industrial growth.
“The global chocolate market is worth approximately $130 billion a year. Africa produces 70 to 75 per cent of the raw cocoa that feeds it. Africa earns less than 10 per cent of that $130 billion. That gap is the untapped value,” he stated.
The call comes at a time when Ghana continues to pursue policies aimed at increasing local value addition within the cocoa sector as part of broader industrial transformation efforts.
Dr Dogbey was speaking at the Africa Cocoa Finance and Investment Forum (ACFIF) 2026, hosted at the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday, where he made a forceful and data-driven pitch for global investment support behind President John Mahama’s landmark 50 per cent domestic cocoa processing policy.
He explained that Ghana’s ambition should not be limited to securing better prices for raw cocoa beans, but rather positioning itself to supply high-value industries globally.
He explained that cocoa derivatives such as cocoa butter continued to command premium demand in the international cosmetics and personal care industry, where they were widely used in moisturisers, lip products and body lotions.
He added that cocoa-based ingredients were also increasingly being utilised in pharmaceutical manufacturing and in the growing health and wellness market due to their perceived cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory benefits.
“We are not talking about a better price for cocoa. We are talking about Ghana supplying the global beauty, healthcare and food manufacturing industries, not just the confectionery trade,” he added.
Dr Dogbe stressed that expanding local processing capacity and encouraging industrial investment in cocoa by-products could significantly improve export earnings, create jobs and deepen Ghana’s participation in global value chains.
Policy
Ghana produces between 650,000 and 800,000 tonnes of cocoa in a good season, yet for decades, approximately 70 per cent of that harvest has left the country as raw beans, surrendering the higher-value grinding and refining margins to European processors.
That, the CMC MD said, was precisely what President Mahama’s administration is determined to change.
“Ghana has thirteen processing companies with 500,000 tonnes of combined installed capacity, and they are running well below potential. Not from technical deficiency, but from lack of reliable, commercially priced bean supply.
“The 50 per cent domestic processing policy, commencing 2026/27, is the government of Ghana’s decision to correct that,” he told the investors and industry players.
Profitability
Responding to pointed questions from the forum floor on whether cocoa processing can genuinely be profitable at origin, she presented a three-point commercial case that appeared to resonate strongly with the gathering.
First, he disclosed that Ghana’s policy covered a deliberate bean mix that included main crop beans at zero ICE discount alongside light crop and remnant grades carrying 20 per cent and above discounts on the international market, creating a commercially viable blended margin.
He said Ghana’s bean quality had also improved markedly, with better bean size and higher fat content.
Second, he said the country offered domestic processors its light crop beans at their discounted international price, yet these beans meet main crop standards in several markets; a direct and meaningful input cost advantage over European competitors.
“Third, processors operating under Ghana’s Free Zone framework enjoy a full ten-year corporate income tax holiday, followed by a 15 per cent rate thereafter – well below the standard rate of 25 per cent,” he added.
He also pointed to a structural argument often overlooked: Ghanaian processing plants currently running at 30 to 40 per cent of installed capacity absorb fixed costs across too few tonnes and bleed money even on a sound margin.
He added that a guaranteed bean allocation under the new policy would push utilisation toward 75 to 80 per cent, at which point those same factories would become genuinely profitable.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh