Political and economic instability in recent weeks, from the delay and simplification of regulations like the EUDR to the freeze on international development funding and soaring cocoa prices, will be the backdrop to the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) Partnership Meeting in Brazil next month.
The industry is under intense pressure and scrutiny like never before, as low global cocoa inventories continue to pose a significant challenge to supply stocks.
Add to the mix soaring temperatures in Brazil, where the mercury hit 44C last week in Rio de Janeiro, 14C above the monthly norm. The coastal city also experienced its driest February on record, creating perfect conditions for heated debates and fiery exchanges.
Luckily, WCF president Chris Vincent knows how to keep a cool head, with his UK military background and experience running large organisations in challenging environments.
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He talks to cocoaradar.com before his departure to Rome, where country leaders gather to conclude COP16 discussions after they ended without a conclusion in Cali last year.
Vincent hopes for a better outcome in São Paulo, Brazil on 19 to 20 March when cocoa and chocolate company executives and NGO representatives convene with global leaders to thrash out solutions for cocoa’s profound challenges at the next WCF Partnership Meeting.
The meeting, themed ‘Our Future: Resilience Through Sustainability,’ takes place at a defining moment for the cocoa industry. Its location in Brazil—host of COP30 later in the year and one of the few nations to have updated its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—adds a forward-looking dimension to the discussions.
“Unprecedented challenges require unprecedented collaboration,” Vincent says. “If you look at all of the headline challenges facing the industry … the cocoa price, what that's doing to consumers, the freeze in aid, the policy changes within the EU, all of those feed back to the farmer.
“Productivity, the impact of climate change, the impact of disease, the impact of ageing trees, the impact of low incomes historically, is leading to farmers withdrawing from the industry.
“So, the key is to build a resilient supply chain that ensures farmers are protected against price fluctuations, which is what our members need, because the industry is under stress, it brings back the focus to the sustainability of supply through the farmers.”
Vincent views issues like stories of ‘shrinkflation’ in the UK press affecting consumer spend as ultimately being connected to the cocoa supply from the farmer and the sustainability of the supply chain.
Climate change
Climate change will be an essential topic at this year’s Partnership Meeting, and Vincent expects to have more to say if there is an agreement on COP16 this week in Rome.
“Fundamentally, climate change is having an impact on farmers. It is also connected to diseases, and that affects the price. Climate change also affects our companies because they are understandably required to look at things like the SBTi [Science Based Targets initiative] and the EUDR [European Union Deforestation Regulation].
Helping to clarify regulations
Vincent describes the WCF’s core role as convening, of bringing the industry together and connecting the industry by helping to clarify regulations.
“For example, biodiversity is coming up as part of CSDDD [The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive], so the reason to be here is to say, ‘Well, how is the world approaching this? What are the leaders saying about how you measure and regulate biodiversity?’”
If the world runs out of cocoa next month (it won’t), Vincent assures that the WCF has contingency plans for all scenarios that could threaten to disrupt proceedings in São Paulo. He recalls last year’s successful Partnership Meeting in Amsterdam, when the sudden and sharp rise in cocoa prices caught many in the industry off guard.
The market is tense. The industry is tense. Cocoa prices are still high, although coming down slightly from the peaks of 2024. The sector mainly worries about weakened demand, limited cash flow, and weather conditions in West Africa.
Vincent says the WCF was aware of rising prices 15 months ago, and the industry is now more accustomed to them.
“But, it provides the backdrop for what we're discussing. It provides the urgency and the need, and what you'll see in the agenda is, although inevitably and rightly, our focus is down at the farm and supply, like we had last year, we will have a section on the consumer, because it is interconnected."
As a leader in agricultural mechanisation, Brazil offers a unique platform for knowledge exchange between cocoa-producing nations. It highlights scalable innovations that can boost efficiency and sustainability.
Brazil's domestic cocoa production has also flourished since the last WCF Partnership, which was held in São Paulo in 2018.
“The exciting thing about being in São Paulo now is with the state of the sector, there is so much to learn from Brazil,” Vincent says.
Disease management
Crop disease and its management is also high on the agenda at this year’s Partnership Meeting. It’s a significant issue in West Africa and South American cocoa farmers are battling Moniliasis, or frozen pod disease, which is more virulent than Witches' Broom Disease (WBD), which almost wiped out Brazil’s cocoa sector at the end of the last century.
Vincent explains that the role this year for the WCF is to carry on its convening role and place greater emphasis on specifically disease prevention.
“We have a clear role. There are many, many actors in this space. We are the organisation that brings both sides of the industry together. We bring the global focus with a presence in Brazil, and Colombia, we're building connections in Ecuador, Indonesia, and a presence on the ground in two West African countries, and through our sister agencies, we have the connections in the US through NCA and in Europe through ECA and Caobisco.”
Vincent reiterates that the WCF’s role in such matters is not to lead but to “join the dots” between the different actors.
Where is Brazil going?
Vincent explains that the country is still on a recovery trajectory from the devastating disease 30 years ago while dealing with a recurring global deficit in cocoa.
“An industry under as much stress as this inevitably looks at where its future supply is coming from, because we mustn't ever lose sight of that. Before this crisis, the cocoa industry steadily grew at approximately 3% a year, so you need to find that new supply."
Vincent describes Brazil as an ‘agricultural powerhouse’ with the infrastructure and expertise of producing other crops, like coffee for example, with its mix of large-scale and small holder farming and its connection with cocoa. In terms of the ‘South-South’ exchange that the WCF will push in São Paulo, he says the industry can learn much from the country’s farming community.
He stresses it is not only industrial mechanization, where lessons can be learned, but also small-scale mechanization.
With COP30 scheduled to take place in Belem towards the end of the year, Brazil is seen as a leader in the climate change space with a robust disease management mechanism. “Brazil is also a leader because it is one of the few countries focused on and revised its NDCs [Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs]. So it's a leader in that space as well. I think there's a huge amount of learning that we can do from a globalization perspective.”
Since its last meeting in February 2024, the WCF has continued its landscape approach, encompassing governance, standards, and monitoring in specific countries. It continues to facilitate and support the Cocoa Forests Initiative programme and has worked closely with partners to develop more sophisticated tools for regulating and monitoring cocoa farmer household incomes.
“We have an agreed methodology on something fundamental, but now here is something that's been agreed upon and that we can all work off,” says Vincent.
He also cites similar progress on deforestation risk assessment and greenhouse gas emissions, describing them as exciting work streams that the WCF will continue to lead.
“And so from our perspective, it’s very clear, our role is busy and full, but convening, I think, is critical over the next year, bringing people together in a time of stress,” he says.
CocoaAction Brasil
So, back in Brazil. Vincent says he is pleased with the success of initiatives like CocoaAction Brasil and how it has aligned with government agencies.
Anthony Myers
“In Brazil, we have good relationships with the government agencies and the Producers’ Association. The companies are aligned. So what we see in Brazil is absolute alignment from the top down and that's what CocoaAction Brasil has done."
“It's a fantastic example of a collaborative programme involving all the right people. All the companies have clear objectives and are delivering and executing some great projects on the ground. It's an excellent example for us of how to get things done.”
- Registration for the WCF Partnership Meeting is open, and discounted tickets are available. For the full agenda and event details, visit the WCF website.
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