# Cocoa: Overview

Chocolate, cocoa butter and powder from one bean

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/overview/

What this tab covers What the commodity is used for, why, in what volumes and with what alternatives, and its chain from mine or field to end user. Also the latest price moves, top recent news, three things to know, and buttons into each tab.

#### Key uses

| Use | Share | Annual volume | Why this commodity | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Chocolate confectionery (bars, pralines, couverture)** | n/a | n/a basis | Chocolate needs both cocoa liquor for flavour and cocoa butter for snap and melt at body temperature. Couverture carries about 32-39% cocoa butter (CBI). No other fat melts so sharply, and buyers and food law tie the word chocolate to cocoa content. CBI (Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs), semi-finished cocoa products market potential, 2023; ICCO Quarterly Bulletin, August 2026; ConfectioneryNews, 11 Oct 2016 (EU Directive 2000/36/EC) | Compound coatings made with palm-kernel or other lauric fats Cocoa butter equivalents from palm, shea, mango kernel, sal, kokum or illipe fat (EU Directive 2000/36/EC allows up to 5% by weight, labelled) |
| **Cocoa powder for drinks, baking, biscuits and ice cream** | n/a | n/a basis | Pressing liquor leaves cake that is milled into powder, so powder is a joint product of butter. It is the cheapest way to give food a chocolate taste and colour. Beverages mainly use powder and bakers use paste and powder (CBI). Malted drink powders are a large outlet in India. CBI, semi-finished cocoa products market potential, 2023 | Carob powder Malt and caramel colour for colour only Reduced-cocoa recipes with flavourings |
| **Cocoa butter in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals** | n/a | n/a basis | Cocoa butter is solid at room temperature, melts on skin and keeps well, which suits lip balm, creams and suppository bases. Demand exists in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals (CBI), but high bean prices since 2024 push formulators towards cheaper fats. CBI, semi-finished cocoa products market potential, 2023 | Shea butter Mango and kokum butter Hydrogenated vegetable fats |
| **Industrial fillings, spreads and coatings for food makers** | n/a | n/a basis | Biscuit, wafer and spread makers buy liquor, powder and industrial chocolate in bulk from grinders such as Barry Callebaut on cost-plus contracts. Recipes here are most flexible, so this is where cocoa content is cut first when beans are dear. Barry Callebaut full-year results FY2024/25 (cost-plus model); CBI 2023 | Hazelnut and vegetable-fat spreads with less cocoa Compound coatings |

 Neither ICCO nor industry bodies publish an end-use split in their free releases, so shares are left blank. The demand signal everyone uses is grindings: 4.649 Mt in 2024/25, down 3.3% on the year (ICCO, August 2026).

#### From field to user

1. **Smallholder farms** About 95% of world cocoa comes from small farms of 2-5 ha (German Cocoa Forum). World yield averaged 475 kg/ha in 2024 (FAOSTAT).
2. **Harvest, fermentation and drying** Pods are cut by hand and beans ferment for 36-72 hours, then dry from about 55% to 7.5% moisture, usually in the sun for a week or more (ICCO).
3. **Collection and marketing boards** In Côte d'Ivoire the Conseil du Café-Cacao sells about 80% of the expected crop forward before fixing a farmgate price; Ghana's COCOBOD licenses buying companies (Reuters via ESM Magazine, Aug 2026).
4. **Export and warehousing** Beans ship in bags or bulk to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg and US ports, where exchange-certified warehouses hold deliverable stock. The Netherlands took 23.7% of world bean imports by value in 2024 (UN Comtrade).
5. **Grinding into liquor** Beans are cleaned, roasted, shelled and ground into liquor. Côte d'Ivoire alone has more than 700,000 t of grinding capacity (CBI, 2023).
6. **Pressing into butter and powder** Hot liquor is pressed at up to 550 bar to separate butter from cake, which is milled into powder (ICCO).
7. **Chocolate and food manufacture** Chocolate makers combine liquor, butter, sugar and milk. Barry Callebaut, the largest supplier of industrial chocolate, sold 2.13 Mt in FY2024/25.
8. **Brands and retail** Mondelez, Mars, Ferrero, Hershey and Nestlé sell to consumers. Mondelez net revenue was $38.5 billion in 2025.

#### Price movement snapshot 2026-10-25
 ICE New York cocoa futures 5,560 US$/t Close 2026-10-23 · Yahoo Finance 1 week **-1.5%** 6 months **+72.8%** World production 5.23 m tonnes, 2024 Largest producer Côte d'Ivoire 36.12% of world

#### Three things to know

- Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana grew about 46% of the world's cocoa beans in 2024 (FAOSTAT).
- Ghana's share of world cocoa fell from 40% to 14% between the early 1960s and early 1980s, largely through export taxes.
- In real 2010 dollars, cocoa prices more than doubled between 2023 ($2.88/kg) and 2024 ($6.37/kg).

#### Top recent news snapshot 2026-10-25, last 30 days

- [Cocoa prices are climbing again. Here’s why this time is different](https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiowFBVV95cUxQQnd5bGJxQndEeDE5MF9vRFBCeFJPR3pqa1FvVXJJUUtqOS1HNTc0V0swbm9jckdVLU9wbkpoRDVBemdPYlU2bzVoOExTV01wLVZRWTRsZUVzNGdhWWxOVUNrVElfNzB2NnlwaklBN3pDcERYbHU2NXU0bzJ6ZVBvc0NzM3VrdG9mLU0xa2xFdHdHamZqQWxGVG45R2pxQTZUNjhj?oc=5)CNBC · 2026-10-05
- [Chocolate has a new problem. And it’s not cocoa prices](https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiowFBVV95cUxQSjh6UjM4OFByQk1ILXRFRk4tQ0JsQlBRYk5DbGRxdWxSNTNRTXlIOXpCQXp5UWZzV24yN1A0bEtaUTBGRW04MnZWQklhMmQtTzJ3NEV2NUpVMlB5YWNmS1NEcTNxZnZlNXRMQTVsZ19WRUlrYUtVLUJVQU5YdDU3aHhKME9QMGhYVUNBLUY1ek9YVXF0a2Z2ZGh5d0NPTEJ2UmZV?oc=5)FoodNavigator.com · 2026-10-21
- [Sweet spot or new threat? Brazil bets on cocoa to save the Amazon](https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMizwFBVV95cUxQRF9JRThhSWVnMUhZUnNvdGJ5cEk0LXB6ajAyRjlnZkFXQWJNb0pyWmVEdnA0T0pFNWJpQkp4UWF2UmRuand1dUVacHg5Vk5XS3JKZVdkSEVjbS1FbVJjQ1dZMWh4eG9wVlJJUF9USzhucjZhLUwwZW1HbUctRWVLU1QzcVVVYWp4TlFPVHNGZjNXNVpab00tWDBLZ2JMUTVzYWpvZ29remZBQml2eXhpOW1FaURGd3oxakJfUDZGeTcyQ2FYVDloMHhZVUc1Xzg?oc=5)Reuters · 2026-09-29
- [APAC cocoa trends: ‘Worst is past’, but risks remain](https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMinwFBVV95cUxOOUxuLVVkNW9aTHdvUElVQ0xOdXNhUTFydldJU2ZNam1HS0RQcXJRdDNUVGFFZWU5cVRLQi0wZFMydkRGVTVfT0pORG1yUDdVdDlwcDFXcUF2WnM3dU9Mc0ZxQTd4cVRaenVmdXVMUGpkQ2FBdHN5ZXZhSmk4M3dra1pzU3NYRHRnX0ZWSDI1ajhBVnFzMnlRZXRpSGVwS1U?oc=5)FoodNavigator.com · 2026-10-20
- [Chocolate Demand Roars Back as Cocoa Grindings Beat Forecast](https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMitAFBVV95cUxNb3lJbEpKQlRWMHQ0T1JEYUFqcUljYW42WnBEemp2c2JJWEtUTUdiT1ZQU1lmbVRCWXFhcUZPemhFRmVTWkl3UWU3VnNzVWtrc3djR24xZ3NpaEV6clhMSDlKRnFjeWNObFVBQXctRjlyZm45Qy15NXZNU09pQ0hKUFNhLTFLbkw0RGxaMVhOdzNPM2JVR05EX2J2OUJZdzl3d1AtUzh2a2RTNkc0cUotMVVISnY?oc=5)Bloomberg · 2026-10-15

#### Read the tabs
[Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/extraction/)[Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/production/)[Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/stocks/)[Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/cycles/)[Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/trading/)[Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/movement/)[Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/criticality/)[Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/characteristics/)[Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/emissions/)

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/cocoa/links/index.md)