Better Than Gold: How Ecuador Cashed In On Surging Cocoa Prices

ETVBHARAT

Ecuador, believed to be the original home of cocoa, is the world's third-largest producer of so-called "food of the gods," according to its agriculture ministry.

Transcript

00:00In Yukadol, farmers who bet on cocoa beans rather than bananas are crashing in as a global

00:10shortage of the mean ingredient in chocolate fields, a prize bonanza. Cocoa is now a billion

00:17dollar business in the Andean country, raveling gold, copper and silver as well as the ubiquitous

00:23banana. A few years ago, the price of cocoa was so low that one could only earn enough for the upkeep of the farm.

00:53But in the past two years, poor harvests linked to climate change and disease in Ivory, Ghost and Ghana

01:06mis together account for over half of global cocoa output have whipped global prices into a froth.

01:15In 2024, Yukadol's cocoa exports amounted to $3.6 billion, $600 million more than mining.

01:26Between September 1994 and March 1995, the value of cocoa exports surpassed those of bananas,

01:34of which Yukadol is the world's top exporter for the first time in six decades, according to the Central

01:41Yukadol Bank.

01:42We have reached about 159,000 toneladas to the month of April. This generates an

01:48increase of 1,400 million to the country. We have already increased 34% in tons and almost 94% in divisas.

02:01Yukadol believed to be the original home of cocoa as the world's third largest producer of the so-called

02:08food of the gods, according to its agriculture ministry.

02:13Para la exportación de cacao y para el consumo de chocolate, los consumidores están muy pendientes

02:19de que el chocolate sea elaborado con cacao sostenible, que tenga un compromiso ambiental,

02:26que tenga un compromiso social y que el productor al final sea beneficiado con buenos precios,

02:31pero también con una buena producción.

02:33It is also the biggest exporter of fine-flavor cocoa, a premium variety priced by chocolate,

02:41makers for its rich, fruity taste. But 90% of its production is of CCN 51,

02:49a genetically modified variety created in the 1980s to resist the bugs behind an outbreak of cocoa-swollen

02:57shoot virus, a disease ravaging crops in Ivory Coast and Ghana. African cocoa crops have also been wiped

03:05out by heavy rains and extreme drought, both of which exports have linked to climate change.

03:12In December 1994, international cocoa prices hit a record $12,000 per metric ton on the back of the

03:20shortages, before falling back to about $8,500 currently.

03:27Ennecaco estimates that around $400,000 producers and exporters have benefited from the price search.

03:35Ahorita lo que nos corresponde como productores es precisamente aprovechar esta bonanza para

03:39invertir, invertir en nuestras plantaciones, invertir en mejorar esa productividad que no

03:43teníamos anteriormente por el mismo tema de precios que no eran competitivos para poder

03:49invertir en el campo. Ahora que lo podemos hacer, el reto es invertir para mejorar productividades.

03:55La rush to cash in on high prices to also risk reputational damage to Ecuadorian cocoa.

04:04Environmental groups have repeatedly warned of rampant deforestation related to cocoa production.

04:11Despite the complaints, the European Commission in May kept Ecuador of its highly anticipated first list

04:18of countries at high risk of deforestation.

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