(Ecofin Agency) - In Ghana, fees for shipping cocoa to Europe will decrease from 39 pounds to 35 pounds during the 2018/2019 cocoa campaign.

This decrease announced by Ghana Shippers' Authority (GSA) is one of the compensation measures of the country which lost about GHS2 billion in 2017 when cocoa prices fell on the international market.

“The price of cocoa is down by 40 percent so we think a 9.4 percent reduction somehow compensates for it”, Benonita Bismarck (photo), GSA’s CEO, said.

Ghana exports 700,000 tons of premium cocoa to Europe yearly during the main campaign and sets aside 20% of the volume produced during the light crop to local grinders.

Let’s remind that by September 13, 2018, cocoa purchases declared to the country’s cocoa regulator reached 870,000 tons.

Espoir Olodo