Cocoa: Ghana’s Cocobod Reports First Profit in Seven Years After Restructuring Debt

Ghana’s cocoa marketing board, Cocobod, has reported a profit of 2.3 billion cedis ($149.84 million) for the 2022/23 fiscal year, as revealed by the Ghanaian auditor general in a report obtained by Reuters.

This marks Cocobod’s first profit in seven years after six consecutive losses.

Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer, has been restructuring its $30 billion debt, including cocoa sector debt, to implement a $3 billion three-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and recover from a severe economic crisis.

In June, Ghana finalised a deal with its official creditor committee and reached an agreement in principle with two bondholder groups to restructure about $13 billion of its debt.

The auditor general’s report, yet to be published, stated that Cocobod “ended the year with a profit of 2.3 billion cedis, compared with a loss of 4.2 billion cedis in 2022.”

The deputy CEO of Cocobod, Ray Ankrah, attributed the profit mainly to debt restructuring.

“We were paying something in the range of 34%, but it’s now down to 13%,” Reuters cited Ankrah saying.

He also credited the recovery to rising global cocoa prices, increased bean sales, currency stability, and better cost management.

The report noted that Cocobod’s revenue increased by 41.7 per cent to 17.7 billion cedis in 2023 due to higher cocoa bean sales. However, it warned that Cocobod might still face challenges in meeting short-term financial obligations due to insufficient liquidity.

The cocoa prices skyrocketed this year, driven by poor harvests in Ghana and Ivory Coast, which together produce 60 per cent of the world’s cocoa.

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