As the regulator seeks to support farmers, Côte d'Ivoire has begun selling cocoa contracts for the 2023/24 season with a non-negative premium for the first time in three years.

The country's regulator, the Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC), sold 25,000 tonnes of cocoa export contracts to global commodity trader Cargill Inc on Friday, two sources at the CCC and another at Cargill told Reuters. Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world's biggest cocoa producers, impose two premiums on their beans that are supposed to increase the prices paid to impoverished farmers to boost their incomes. However, one of the premiums, known as the origin differential, had fallen below zero in recent years under pressure from traders, effectively nullifying part of the other premium, the living wage differential (LWD) of $400 per ton.

Two sources at the CCC confirmed the deal, saying it was the first sale of the 2023/24 season and the first time Côte d'Ivoire had sold cocoa contracts with a non-negative origin differential since the introduction of LID in 2019/2020.