Cocoa from bean to chocolate bar: grown, fermented, ground, made

By Alykhan Virani. Published 2026-10-11.

Part 10 of the series From source to store.

The Netherlands is not among the 25 largest cocoa-growing countries in FAOSTAT’s 2024 data, yet it exported $3.65 billion of cocoa butter that year, 26.9% of the world’s $13.60 billion under HS code 1804, and $1.28 billion of powder, 26.5% of $4.85 billion under HS 1805 (CEPII BACI). Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) grew 1.89 million tonnes of beans, 36.2% of the world’s 5.22 million, and exported $1.01 billion of butter, 7.5% of the world total (FAOSTAT; CEPII BACI). “Cocoa” here means dried, fermented beans unless the text names paste (HS 1803), butter, powder or chocolate (HS 1806). BACI’s HS 1801 line includes roasted beans, and the site’s trade tables stop at HS 1805.

How it is grown

The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) puts the best growing belt at about 20 degrees north to 20 degrees south, at 18 to 32 degrees Celsius with 1,000 to 3,000 millimeters of rain a year in its FAQ, while its growing page gives 10 degrees north to 10 degrees south and 1,500 to 2,000 millimeters as generally preferred (both undated). The same page says young trees need shade.

A first crop arrives 3 to 5 years after planting (ICCO FAQ). A University of Reading review for the ICCO puts maximal yields at about eight years and good yields until about 25 (Daymond et al.; year not stated).

The same review estimates 5 to 6 million cocoa farmers, a large proportion of them smallholders. FAOSTAT counted 5.22 million tonnes from 57 countries in 2024: Ivory Coast 36.2%, Indonesia 12.1%, Ghana 10.1%, Ecuador 7.7% and Nigeria 6.7%, or 72.9% together. FAOSTAT’s Ghana and Nigeria figures come from international organizations, not national governments. The ICCO’s 2024/25 gross production, counted by cocoa year from October, was 4.73 million tonnes (August 2026). The site’s land versus yield analysis gives a FAOSTAT world average of 0.477 tonnes per hectare in 2022 to 2024 (5.33 million tonnes from 11.16 million hectares, three-year mean).

The ICCO says black pod, a Phytophthora fungus, brings worldwide yield losses of 20% to 30% (year not stated). Mealybugs spread cacao swollen shoot virus, which could cut yield by 30% to 50% and kill trees within two to three years (Ameyaw et al., Viruses, 27 December 2023). The Ghana News Agency reported on 8 February 2024 that the Ghana Cocoa Board’s chief executive said over 500,000 hectares of Ghana’s cocoa farms had been lost to it.

From pod to dried bean

The ICCO says pods are opened within a week to 10 days of picking, fermenting heaps reach 40 to 45 degrees Celsius in the first 48 hours, and fermentation takes about five days for Forastero beans (its FAQ says 36 to 72 hours). Drying brings moisture down to about 7.5% (ICCO, undated).

The harvest calendar shows Ivory Coast and Ghana cutting a main crop from October to March. Buyers grade by a cut test, which counts faults in a sample; the ICCO says Good Fermented cocoa has no more than 5% defective beans and no more than 5% slate beans (undated).

Governments set the farmgate price in both countries. KIT’s 2018 description of the system had COCOBOD selling about 70% of each crop ahead on futures markets and the Ivorian producer price fixed at around 60% of forward-sales value. Ivory Coast set 2,800 CFA francs per kilogram for the 2025/26 main crop, announced a 57% cut to 1,200 on 4 March 2026 for the mid-crop (Ecofin, 5 March 2026), and kept 1,200 CFA francs per kilogram, about $2.12, for the 2026/27 main crop announced on 1 September 2026 (Reuters). Ghana cut its price by 28.6% to GH¢41,392 per tonne (Ecofin, 5 March 2026), then, The Ghana Report says, set GH¢42,400 from 25 September 2026, 71.18% of realized gross FOB value.

Moving it

The ICCO says beans ship in jute bags or in bulk, that bulk shipping can cost a third less than bags, and that conditioning plants sit mostly in port warehouses (undated). Exporters estimated cumulative 2024/25 arrivals at Ivorian ports at about 1.62 million tonnes by 27 July 2025 (Reuters via MarineLink, 28 July 2025; the republished text prints “1,620 million”). The Port of San-Pédro says it exports more than 1 million tonnes of cocoa a year (port website; year not stated). This post found no source with cocoa volumes for Tema or Takoradi.

In 2024 the world exported 3.27 million tonnes of beans (HS 1801) worth $18.87 billion (CEPII BACI). Ivory Coast shipped $4.96 billion, 26.3% of value, then Ecuador (16.3%), Nigeria (11.8%), Ghana (7.7%) and Cameroon (6.8%). The Netherlands imported $4.07 billion (21.6%), Malaysia $3.14 billion and Germany $1.77 billion, together 47.7% ($8.99 billion of $18.87 billion, from unrounded values). The trade flows report maps the corridors.

Contracts set who carries risk at sea under terms such as FOB and CIF; the FOB, CIF and Incoterms explainer sets out each rule. ICE Futures U.S. cocoa trades 10-tonne lots delivered to licensed warehouses in five East Coast port districts, including New York and Baltimore, and lists beans from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo as deliverable at a $160-per-tonne premium (ICE, accessed 11 October 2026). This post could not open a dated count of ICE certified stocks.

Grinding, butter, powder and chocolate

Grinders roast beans, mill the nibs into liquor, press out the butter and mill the cake into powder (ICCO, undated). The ICCO put world grindings at 4.649 million tonnes in 2024/25 (August 2026). In April to June 2026 European Cocoa Association member companies reported grinding 316,366 tonnes in Europe, 4.6% below the same quarter of 2025 (ECA, 16 July 2026, via CocoaIntel), and the Cocoa Association of Asia’s figure for Asia was 224,646 tonnes (via CocoaRadar).

The products trade differently from beans (CEPII BACI, 2024). Paste (HS 1803) was $8.28 billion, led by Ivory Coast at 25.5%. Butter (HS 1804) was $13.60 billion and 1.20 million tonnes, or $11,322 per tonne (unrounded value divided by unrounded weight; a unit value, not a price), and the Netherlands, Indonesia and Germany held 49.4% of it. Powder (HS 1805) was $4.85 billion, and the Netherlands, Malaysia and Indonesia held 50.8%. Ivory Coast’s coffee and cocoa regulator said in June 2025 that the country processed 750,000 tonnes locally a year, 42% of its output, with 1.06 million tonnes of capacity (Reuters, 27 June 2025).

Chocolate trade sits in HS 1806. Statistics Netherlands reported 2025 cocoa product exports of €12.4 billion for the Netherlands and €11.4 billion for Germany, said €11.4 billion of the Dutch total were re-exports, and said about a quarter of Dutch exports were chocolate while about two thirds of Germany’s were (CBS, 3 April 2026). The European Cocoa Association says its members account for 85% of global cocoa liquor, butter and powder production (ECA website; year not stated).

Getting it to you

EU Directive 2000/36/EC (consolidated version of 18 November 2013) requires chocolate to contain at least 35% total dry cocoa solids, including at least 18% cocoa butter, and milk chocolate at least 25% cocoa solids and 14% milk solids and allows up to 5% other vegetable fats in the finished product. Barry Callebaut, a chocolate maker, sold 2,125,420 tonnes in its 2024/25 fiscal year, down 6.8%, and reported revenue of CHF 14.8 billion, up 49.0% in local currencies (42.4% in Swiss francs), which it said reflected higher cocoa bean prices under its cost-plus pricing model (company release, 5 November 2025). This site carries no retail prices for chocolate.

Where the chain is thin

How much did West African output fall after its peaks?

FAOSTAT’s output figure for Ghana fell 49.4% from its 2021 peak of 1.05 million tonnes to 0.53 million in 2024, and Ivory Coast’s fell 19.9% from its 2022 peak of 2.36 million tonnes to 1.89 million (FAOSTAT; the Ghana figure for 2024 is an international-organization estimate). The data alone do not say why. The ICCO estimated a 2023/24 deficit of 492,000 tonnes (May 2026) and a 2024/25 surplus of 37,000 tonnes (August 2026), with no 2025/26 estimate in that bulletin. The World Bank’s cocoa price averaged $3.28 per kilogram in 2023, reached $10.75 in January 2025, the highest monthly average since the series began in 1960, fell to $3.24 in March 2026 and was $5.92 in September 2026 (Pink Sheet). The 2024 cocoa spike explainer covers the run-up.

How do governments set farmgate prices?

Ecofin reported on 5 March 2026 that Ivory Coast’s October purchase price had come to exceed the world price, and that 100,000 tonnes of main-crop beans stayed unsold; the state set aside CFA280 billion ($496 million) to buy them. Ivory Coast and Ghana introduced a $400-per-tonne living income differential on top of the free-on-board price from the 2020/21 season (European Commission JRC, 2021). The Ghana Report says the Cocoa Board Act 2026 guarantees farmers at least 70% of realized gross FOB value. Ivory Coast and Ghana pledged on 16 June 2026 to harmonize farmgate price policies (Graphic Online).

What do the EU deforestation rules require, and from when?

Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 covers cocoa, defines deforestation-free by a cut-off date of 31 December 2020 and lists HS 1801 to 1806, chocolate included. It set 30 December 2024 as the application date for large and medium operators, and amendments moved it. The Commission’s 13 July 2026 notice lists 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators and 30 June 2027 for micro and small operators established as such by 31 December 2024, under Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, published on 23 December 2025; no later change was found. Member states must set the maximum fine for companies at no less than 4% of annual EU-wide turnover (Article 25). Ivory Coast’s cocoa council said in August 2026 that the country was ready (Reuters, 27 August).

Does grinding concentrate in a few places?

In trade value it does: in 2024 the Netherlands, Indonesia and Germany held 49.4% of butter export value, and the Netherlands, Malaysia and Indonesia held 50.8% of powder export value (BACI). The Netherlands is not in FAOSTAT’s producer list, so its bean exports ($0.69 billion, 3.7% of the world total in 2024) are re-exports that trade tables count again after the earlier import. The producing, exporting and processing explainer covers why rankings differ.

Follow the data

• The cocoa commodity page has the producer and trade tables, and the prices page tracks the World Bank series.
• The trade flows report ranks the corridors, and the harvest calendar shows who harvests when.
• Country pages cover Ivory Coast, Ghana, Ecuador and the Netherlands. The glossary defines Incoterms and certified stocks.

FAOSTAT and BACI count calendar years and the ICCO counts cocoa years from October, so ratios across sources are not like for like. Nothing here is investment advice.

Prices are monthly benchmark averages that lag the market; informational only, not investment advice.