Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon form alliance to end raw cocoa exports

Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon have signed the Abuja Declaration, forming an alliance that aims to end the exports of raw cocoa beans.

Under the pact, the nations are aiming to negotiate with international cocoa buyers as a single bloc controlling about 75 percent of global production.

The four countries signed the declaration on Tuesday at the 2026 cocoa value addition summit in Abuja.

At the event, governments, financiers and industry players unveiled plans to shift Africa from exporting raw cocoa beans to processing and branding finished products.

President Bola Tinubu, represented by Abubakar Kyari, the minister of agriculture and food security, said Nigeria would end the practice of exporting raw cocoa while importing finished chocolate products.

“Nigeria will no longer export raw beans while importing finished value,” the president said.

“We will grind our beans at home, we will press our butter at home, we will make our chocolate at home, brand it at home and sell it to the world on our own terms.”

Tinubu said investors are building a 70,000-tonne cocoa processing facility in Sagamu, Ogun state, which he described as the largest in the country’s history.

He said Nigeria’s installed cocoa grinding capacity now exceeds 120,000 tonnes annually.

The president noted that the Bank of Industry (BOI), which co-convened the summit, has funding available for viable cocoa projects.

Also speaking, Olasupo Olusi, BOI’s managing director, said although Nigeria produces more than 300,000 tonnes of cocoa annually, only about 50,000 tonnes of its installed grinding capacity is currently utilised.

Olusi said BOI disbursed over N164 billion to more than 3,500 agro-processing businesses in 2025 and secured a €60 million credit facility from the European Investment Bank to support cocoa value addition.

He said the bank would establish dedicated financing windows for cocoa processing, ingredient manufacturing, packaging, and chocolate production.

“We are not approaching cocoa as a lending programme; we are building an industrial ecosystem,” Olusi said.

‘BLOC TO PUSH JOINT POSITION ON EU RULES’

John Owan Enoh, minister of state for industry, said the alliance would help cocoa-producing countries capture a greater share of the global chocolate market, valued at over $130 billion.

“We are not interested in exporting anonymous sacks anymore. We are interested in exporting value,” he said.

Enoh said the bloc would adopt a common position on the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation, which takes effect for large and medium cocoa operators on December 30, 2026.

He said the countries would seek recognition of their national traceability systems and oppose passing compliance costs to smallholder farmers.

The minister said Nigeria also adopted a Cocoa Value Addition Accord, committing the federal government, cocoa-producing states, farmer groups, industry associations and development finance institutions to measurable targets on processing and farmer incomes.

Enoh said a delivery council would oversee implementation and publish annual progress reports.

Ransford Abbey, the chief executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board, said Africa produces between 75 and 77 percent of the world’s cocoa but receives less than 10 percent of the value generated by the global chocolate industry.

“We do not need charity. We deserve equity. The time has come for Africa to process its own wealth, protect its farmers and negotiate with one voice in the global cocoa market,” Abbey said.

He noted that global cocoa prices had fallen sharply after peaking above $11,000 per tonne in late 2024, forcing Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to cut producer prices.

The summit concluded with the adoption of the Abuja Declaration and the Cocoa Value Addition Accord.(TheCable)