MAHAMA TRAVELS TO ABIDJAN FOR HIGH-LEVEL COCOA SUMMIT WITH COTE D IVOIRE

President John Dramani Mahama is expected in Abidjan today, June 16, 2026, for a high-level bilateral cocoa summit with Cote d'Ivoire - a meeting that carries enormous economic stakes for both countries and arrives at a pivotal moment for an industry that has faced its most turbulent period in decades.

MyJoyOnline reported the Abidjan visit on June 16, 2026, confirming that the COCOBOD Chief Executive separately called for greater trust and unity in the Ghana-Cote d'Ivoire cocoa partnership in the hours before the summit. The two nations together produce approximately 60 percent of the world's cocoa supply, a combined market position that gives them significant potential pricing power - leverage that both countries have sought to exercise more effectively through coordinated production and marketing strategies under the Cote d'Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative.

The backdrop to the summit is a cocoa sector in crisis. As reported by Modern Ghana and African Arguments, Ghana's Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson announced in February 2026 a farmgate price cut of 28.6 percent - from GH¢58,000 to GH¢41,392 per tonne - affecting approximately 800,000 smallholder farming households, or roughly 3.2 million Ghanaians whose primary livelihood depends on cocoa. The cut was triggered by a collapse in global cocoa prices from highs exceeding US$10,000 per tonne in early 2025 to approximately US$3,680 by February 2026.

Speaking to the Ghanaian community in Philadelphia in March 2026 and at the Ghana-UK Summit in June, President Mahama framed the cocoa price crisis as a "wake-up call" for Ghana to end nearly 70 years of exporting raw beans and pivot decisively toward value addition and processing. At the Ghana-UK Summit, as confirmed by GBC Ghana Online, he outlined a 50 percent local processing target and proposed legislation to guarantee farmers a minimum share of the Free on Board price as the cornerstones of a structural overhaul.

The Abidjan summit is expected to address coordination on production volumes, export pricing strategy, and joint advocacy to international chocolate manufacturers for fairer price-sharing arrangements along the cocoa value chain.

Sources: MyJoyOnline, GBC Ghana Online, Citinewsroom, Modern Ghana, African Arguments, COCOBOD, Cote d'Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative