Global investors, policymakers, and industry leaders gathered at the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, for the maiden Africa Cocoa Finance and Investment Forum (ACFIF 2026), where calls for an African Cocoa Exchange and deeper value chain investment dominated discussions on restructuring a sector long dominated by external markets.
The forum, convened by Cocoa Trade and Invest Africa and DMA Invest in collaboration with the Institute of Directors Africa Group, brought into sharp focus a structural imbalance that has persisted for decades. Africa produces over 70 percent of the world’s cocoa yet captures less than 2 percent of the global chocolate market, which is valued at approximately $170 billion annually.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana delivered the keynote address remotely, calling for urgent transformation of the continent’s cocoa economy. Drawing on reforms during his administration between 2001 and 2008, when Ghana’s annual cocoa output roughly doubled through mass spraying programmes and fertiliser support, Kufuor argued that cocoa must now be treated with the same strategic seriousness as oil or gold. He stressed that Africa’s structural position at the lowest end of the cocoa value chain must be reversed through deliberate industrialisation, value addition, and capital mobilisation.
He also identified climate change as an escalating threat, warning that rising temperatures, soil degradation, and pest outbreaks could undermine production gains if left unaddressed.
Michel Arrion, Chief Executive of the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), added institutional weight to proposals for an African-controlled pricing mechanism. He backed the creation of an African Cocoa Exchange, arguing that the continent’s price-setting power currently rests with futures markets in London and New York, leaving producers exposed to volatility they cannot manage.
“Africa should not remain a price taker,” Arrion stated, pointing to recent price swings that saw global cocoa values collapse from above $12,000 per tonne in 2024 to below $3,000 earlier in 2026 as evidence of systemic vulnerability. He proposed a warehouse receipt system to improve financing access and introduce greater transparency into trading.
A significant policy development also emerged from the forum. Ghana’s Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) outlined the government’s plan to direct at least 50 percent of the country’s cocoa harvest toward domestic processing from the 2026/27 season, a shift that would fundamentally alter the economics of Ghana’s most important agricultural export. With 13 processing companies holding 500,000 tonnes of combined installed capacity running well below potential, CMC presented a three-track strategy combining defined domestic bean allocations, a domestic bond programme to improve farmgate liquidity, and long-dated offtake agreements with international buyers.
Organisers described ACFIF 2026 as a breakthrough moment, citing strong investor interest and a pipeline of ready opportunities across the cocoa value chain. They announced a global expansion roadmap that includes a forum at the New York Stock Exchange in September 2026, a partnership with Chocoa during Amsterdam Cocoa Week in February 2027, and an ACFIF Origin Edition in Abidjan and Abuja in the second quarter of 2027, taking the investment dialogue directly to producing communities.
Kufuor closed with a call for a practical long-term vision for the sector, urging stakeholders to build the political will, institutional structures, and investment frameworks needed to make cocoa a genuine driver of African industrial growth and job creation by 2040.
