Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon unite to end raw cocoa exports

NIGERIA, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon have signed the Abuja Declaration, creating a regional alliance aimed at ending the export of raw cocoa beans and promoting value-added processing within Africa.

The agreement will see the 4 countries negotiate collectively with international cocoa buyers as a bloc that accounts for about 75 percent of global cocoa production. The declaration was signed on Tuesday during the 2026 Cocoa Value Addition Summit in Abuja.

The summit brought together government officials, financiers and industry stakeholders who outlined strategies to transform Africa from a supplier of raw cocoa beans into a producer of processed cocoa products and finished chocolate for global markets.

President Bola Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, said Nigeria would stop the cycle of exporting raw cocoa while importing finished chocolate products.

“Nigeria will no longer export raw beans while importing finished value,” Tinubu said.

“We will grind our beans at home, we will press our butter at home, we will make our chocolate at home, brand it at home and sell it to the world on our own terms.”

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The president disclosed that investors are constructing a 70,000-tonne cocoa processing plant in Sagamu, Ogun State, describing it as the largest of such facility in Nigeria’s history. He added that the country’s installed cocoa grinding capacity now exceeds 120,000 tonnes annually.

Tinubu also said the Bank of Industry (BOI), a co-convener of the summit, has financing available for bankable cocoa investment projects.

Speaking at the event, BOI Managing Director, Mr Olasupo Olusi, said Nigeria produces more than 300,000 tonnes of cocoa each year, yet only about 50,000 tonnes of its installed grinding capacity is currently being utilised.

Olusi said the bank disbursed more than N164 billion to over 3,500 agro-processing businesses in 2025 and secured a €60 million credit line from the European Investment Bank, noting that BOI would introduce dedicated financing windows for cocoa processing, ingredient manufacturing, packaging and chocolate production.

“We are not approaching cocoa as a lending programme; we are building an industrial ecosystem,”, Olusi said.

Minister of State for Industry, Mr John Owan Enoh, said the partnership would enable cocoa-producing countries to secure a larger share of the global chocolate market, which is valued at more than $130 billion.

“We are not interested in exporting anonymous sacks anymore. We are interested in exporting value,” Enoh said.

He added that the alliance would adopt a unified position on the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation, which becomes applicable to large and medium-sized cocoa operators from December 30, 2026. According to him, the bloc will push for recognition of national traceability systems and resist efforts to transfer compliance costs to smallholder farmers.

Enoh also announced the adoption of a Cocoa Value Addition Accord by Nigeria, under which the Federal Government, cocoa-producing states, farmer organisations, industry groups and development finance institutions have committed to measurable targets for domestic processing and improved farmer incomes. A delivery council, he said, will oversee implementation and publish annual progress reports.

Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Ransford Abbey, said although Africa accounts for between 75 percent and 77 percent of global cocoa production, the continent earns less than 10 percent of the value generated by the international chocolate industry.

“We do not need charity. We deserve equity. The time has come for Africa to process its own wealth, protect its farmers and negotiate with one voice in the global cocoa market,” Abbey said.

He also noted that cocoa prices have declined significantly after reaching more than $11,000 per tonne in late 2024, a development that forced Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to reduce producer prices.

The summit ended with the formal adoption of both the Abuja Declaration and the Cocoa Value Addition Accord.