Buy Ivory Coast Cocoa Beans Directly From Exporters & Suppliers - Best of 2024 Market Prices

If you have had chocolate by large chocolate producers like Cadbury and Nestle, then you have had a taste of Ivorian cocoa. Ivory Coast cocoa beans are used in the manufacture of chocolate, cocoa that is used to make beverages and cocoa butter in the cosmetic industry.

Theobroma cacao is the cocoa beans perennial tree that is native to the undergrowth of rainforests. This tree loves shade and grows at a low elevation. The cacao tree originated to the Amazon Basin more than 4000 years ago. It first was domesticated in equatorial South America and later Central America 1500 years later.

The 4-20m high Ivorian cocoa tree is a branching tree that has simple, lanceolate leaves that grow up to 61cm long and 10cm wide. The tree has pale yellow flowers that have five petals and sepals each.  The cocoa pods are yellow with each containing 20-50 purple seeds.

Ivory Coast has been the leading country in the production and export of cocoa beans in the world since 1978. Of all the cocoa produced globally, as of 2012, 32% was from Ivory Coast. As of 2017, it had an annual production of 1.8M tonnes. The country depends highly on this crop as it accounts for 40% of its national export income. There are about 600,000 smallholder farmers who are mainly the growers of cocoa in the country with each planting on 1-3 ha. Accounts for 10% of the GDP. Cocoa growing zones are the western, central and eastern regions of the country with states like Buyo, Abengourou, Zuenoula, Bouafle, Akoupe and Duekoue. 

Forastero is commonly called bulk cocoa or robust bean. It is the most produced variety worldly and has high yield and less susceptibility to diseases. The seeds have a bitter taste and a strong flavour.

Ivorian cocoa is grown under constant tropical 100% daytime humidity and 70%-80% night-time humidity, in the forest shade. They do well at temperatures of 18°c and 32°c. Low to slight elevations favour their growth. Soils with a PH of 5.0 – 7.5 are excellent for optimum growth, and they are fertile, deep and well-draining. 

The fruits take five months since flowering to ripen. The tree has a life span of 40 years and an economic life of 25-30 years. 

Harvesting happens when a good number of the pods containing the beans are ripe, and the fruit has turned yellow. This process is accomplished by the use of machetes or long-handled knives. The period over the months of November to March is for harvesting. The pods are opened with a wooden baton so to separate the seeds and pulp from the outer rind. The seeds and peel undergo fermentation on the farm to fully develop the chocolate flavour, and the seeds are after then dried. If the seeds crackle when rubbed together, then the drying process is complete, and the beans have achieved the desired 7-5% moisture.  The dried seeds get cooled for two days, purchased, held shortly in a warehouse at collection centres with desired fabric and proper ventilation and are later exported. Before exporting, they get checked for quality, redried if need be, and bagged in export sacks. Bagging is unnecessary if cocoa is being shipped in containers as bulk or mega bulk (direct from the vessel’s hold). The seeds are dry when being shipped and get stored under cool, dry and sealed conditions.

Ivory Coast cocoa beans exports are to the US, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

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