Nigeria, three African producers seek united front on cocoa value addition

Nigeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are set to launch a regional alliance aimed at transforming Africa’s role in the global cocoa industry by increasing local processing, coordinating market positions and strengthening their collective bargaining power in international trade.

The four countries, which together produce about two-thirds of the world’s cocoa, are expected to sign the Abuja Declaration at the Cocoa Value Addition Summit 2026 in Abuja on Tuesday, establishing a Cocoa Value Addition Alliance to promote value addition at origin and coordinate engagement with global buyers and regulators.

The move marks one of the most ambitious attempts by Africa’s leading cocoa producers to capture a greater share of the industry’s value chain, which has historically been dominated by multinational processors and chocolate manufacturers in Europe and North America despite cocoa being grown largely in West and Central Africa.

According to a statement issued on Friday by Odenke Ibiang, Special Assistant, Media, Office of the Minister of State for Industry, the alliance will serve as a platform for member countries to negotiate, develop common standards and engage international markets as a unified bloc.

In addition to the regional declaration, Nigeria will sign a Cocoa Value Addition Accord, a national compact bringing together the Federal Government, cocoa-producing states, farmer groups, processors, researchers and development finance institutions to commit to measurable targets on domestic processing, farmer incomes and investment.

Implementation will be overseen by a delivery council chaired by the Minister of State for Industry, with progress reports to be published annually.

The initiative comes as cocoa-producing countries seek to move beyond exporting raw beans, a business model that leaves most manufacturing profits, branding opportunities and high-value jobs outside the continent.

Although Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana dominate global cocoa production, the bulk of chocolate manufacturing still takes place in Europe, where significantly more value is created through processing, branding and retailing. Nigeria, Africa’s fourth-largest cocoa producer, has also been seeking to expand domestic processing as part of its industrialisation strategy and export diversification agenda.

The summit also comes at a period of heightened uncertainty in global cocoa markets. Cocoa prices have experienced unprecedented volatility over the past 18 months, surging above $11,000 per metric tonne before falling sharply to about $3,000 and later recovering towards $5,000.

While higher prices have increased export earnings, they have also exposed farmers and processors to significant market risks and disrupted supply chains.

Another major issue expected to shape discussions is the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which will apply to large and medium-sized operators from December 30, 2026. The regulation requires plot-level traceability for cocoa entering the EU, which accounts for roughly 60 percent of global cocoa imports.

Under the proposed alliance, member countries intend to adopt a common position on implementation of the regulation, including recognition of national traceability systems and ensuring that compliance costs are not unfairly transferred to millions of smallholder farmers.

“For a hundred years, Africa has sent its cocoa to the world in sacks and received it back in wrappers, paying at both ends of the transaction.

“The distance between a bean and a brand is measured in jobs and in dignity, and on Tuesday, in Abuja, four nations began closing that distance together. We do not gather to lament the market. We gather to redesign our place in it,” John Owan Enoh, Minister of State for Industry said

The summit will feature goodwill addresses from the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and Côte d’Ivoire’s Le Conseil du Café-Cacao, alongside a financing plenary involving the Bank of Industry, NIRSAL and other development finance institutions, where new funding initiatives for the cocoa value chain are expected to be announced.

Participants will also receive an update on the construction of Nigeria’s largest cocoa processing facility, a 70,000-metric-tonne plant being developed by Sunbeth Global Concepts in Sagamu, Ogun State, and scheduled for commissioning in 2027.

The Cocoa Value Addition Summit forms part of the Federal Government’s Nigeria Industrial Policy, which identifies agro-industrial value addition as a key strategy for deepening manufacturing, improving export competitiveness and reducing the country’s dependence on commodity exports.