The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) will bring together over 400 industry leaders, governments, farmers and civil society organizations in Amsterdam on February 17 and 18 to address structural challenges reshaping the global cocoa sector.
The Partnership Meeting 2026, held at the Beurs van Berlage during Amsterdam Cocoa Week, takes place under the theme Securing Cocoa’s Future in a Changing World. Discussions will tackle climate resilience, farmer income, evolving regulatory frameworks, access to finance, market volatility and long term supply security. The agenda reflects growing recognition that the next phase of sustainability must move beyond commitments to delivery, scale and measurable impact.
Chris Vincent, President of the WCF, stated that this Partnership Meeting comes at a critical inflection point for cocoa. Climate pressures, regulatory change and market disruption are converging, according to Vincent. The conversations in Amsterdam are about how stakeholders collectively respond with urgency, realism and ambition to secure a resilient future for farmers, companies and cocoa growing landscapes.
Ghana’s cocoa sector faces mounting challenges that underscore the meeting’s urgency. Production fell from over one million tonnes annually to approximately 617,500 tonnes for the current season after the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) revised its production target by nearly 20 percent. The initial projection of 810,000 metric tonnes was reduced to 650,000 metric tonnes due to unusual dry spells affecting several cocoa growing regions.
The country exported some 292,755 metric tonnes of cocoa beans and cocoa products to the European Union (EU) in 2024, accounting for close to 75 percent of Ghana’s reported global export volume of 512,515 metric tonnes. Ghana now faces compliance pressure from the EU Deforestation-free Regulation, which becomes applicable December 30, 2025, for large and medium size companies and June 30, 2026, for micro and small size enterprises.
Senior voices from producing and consuming countries will explore how policy, investment and innovation can be better aligned to support farmers while meeting rising expectations on environmental and social performance. The programme combines high level plenaries with focused sessions examining climate adaptation and resilient farming systems, farmer income and economic viability, regulatory readiness and implementation, data and traceability, financing models to unlock transformation, and the future of cocoa in a rapidly changing global market.
Senior officials from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana will discuss the future of origin country leadership in a session titled Cocoa at the Crossroads. Emerging producers from Brazil, Ecuador, Nigeria, Cameroon and Indonesia will explore their growing global influence in Shaping Tomorrow’s Cocoa. Another session will address cocoa diseases such as swollen shoot and frosty pod with fresh global responses from scientists, farmers and institutions.
COCOBOD reported that over 90,000 hectares of cocoa farms are infected with cocoa swollen shoot virus disease and are targeted for rehabilitation under Ghana’s National Cocoa Rehabilitation Program. The sector also faces pressure from unlicensed gold mining activities spilling over into cocoa production lands, a phenomenon locally known as galamsey.
Ghana raised the producer price for cocoa to $5,040 per tonne for the 2025/26 crop season, up from $3,100 per tonne in the 2024/25 season, representing a 62.58 percent increase in dollar terms. However, the appreciation of the Ghana cedi against the United States (US) dollar from GH₵16 to GH₵10.25 dampened the cedi equivalent prices received by farmers. At the current exchange rate, farmers receive GH₵51,660 per tonne compared to GH₵49,600 last season.
Cocoa TechXchange, a dedicated space showcasing tools, technologies and partnerships turning innovation into practice, takes place on February 17. The platform brings together solution providers, practitioners and decision makers to explore how data, digital platforms, traceability systems and climate smart technologies can strengthen resilience and accelerate impact across cocoa supply chains.
COCOBOD will implement the Ghana Cocoa Traceability System starting in the 2025/2026 crop season to help Ghana fully comply with EU regulations. The system aims to ensure that the country’s cocoa is traceable, deforestation free, child labor free and compliant with international sustainability standards. The government will also reintroduce free fertilizers, insecticides, spraying machines, fungicides and flower inducers to support farmers.
Cocoa futures surged from about $2,500 to more than $10,000 per metric ton in 2024 following years of shrinking harvests that strained global inventories. Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire saw excessively heavy rainfall from April to June 2023, followed by a harsh dry spell between November and February 2024, resulting in record low yields and global supply shortages. Prices have since eased to around $7,000 per tonne on New York and London trading platforms.
The International Cocoa Organization revised its 2023/24 global cocoa deficit to 494,000 metric tonnes, the largest deficit in over 60 years. Global cocoa production fell 13.1 percent year over year to 4.380 million metric tonnes, while the global cocoa stocks to grindings ratio fell to a 46 year low of 27.0 percent.
Approximately 5 million smallholder farmers grow most of the world’s chocolate, with many living below a living income threshold. Greater climatic volatility threatens to deepen their financial precarity as production shocks translate into supply shortages, higher costs and price volatility for multinational chocolate companies and consumers.
The WCF represents more than 80 percent of the global cocoa sector, bringing together companies, farmer cooperatives, governments and partners to secure a sustainable and accessible cocoa supply. Through shared tools, policy alignment and coordinated communications, the organization drives collective action to strengthen resilience, sustainability and trust across the cocoa value chain.
The Partnership Meeting continues WCF’s partnership with CHOCOA as part of Amsterdam Cocoa Week, ensuring alignment with wider industry and civil society dialogues while maintaining focus on high level strategy, sustainability impact and sector transformation.
