The price of cocoa is currently below 4-year lows, with cocoa futures closing at $1,930 per metric tonne on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Prices have been dropping since the third quarter of 2016 due to abundant supply from Ivory Coast and Ghana. These West African countries export more than half of the world’s supply of cocoa, with Nigeria and Cameroon taking the total to 70%. As a result, the increased exports have caused a supply glut for cocoa, and prices have been falling for months.
The increased quantity of cocoa exports can be attributed to good weather conditions which have decreased the extent of damage to cocoa crops. An opposite effect can be seen in 2014 and 2015 when there were weather problems in the same West African countries and other cocoa exporting countries.