Cocoa, for years, has been one of the backbones of Ghana’s economy as revenues from the crop have helped to build schools, roads, and livelihoods.
Yet, when it comes to processing the beans into finished products, the country remains trapped in a cycle of unprofitability. Despite decades of effort and government support, companies like the Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) continue to bleed losses, even as global demand for chocolate and other cocoa-based products soars.
A recent policy brief by IMANI Africa offers both a diagnosis and a direction. According to the policy think tank, Ghana must learn from its neighbour Côte d’Ivoire, which has managed to make local cocoa processing not only sustainable but profitable.
Côte d’Ivoire’s Winning Formula
Across the border, Côte d’Ivoire has built a more enabling environment for cocoa processors. There, companies enjoy predictable access to beans, lower energy tariffs, and deliberate government policies that link local processors directly to global buyers.
This integrated structure ensures that processors don’t struggle to secure raw materials or battle unpredictable costs. It also helps the country attract investments from multinational firms that see long-term stability in its cocoa sector.
For IMANI, Côte d’Ivoire’s approach is not accidental. It’s a product of deliberate coordination between state policy and private investment.
Ghana’s processors, by contrast, operate under uncertainty and high-cost conditions that make processing less rewarding.
“Comparatively, Côte d’Ivoire’s processors operate under a more supportive structure: access to beans is more predictable, energy tariffs are lower, and government policies deliberately link local processors to global buyers,” IMANI noted.
It continued that, “Ghana’s processors, by contrast, operate under uncertainty and high-cost conditions.”
CPC: A Struggling Giant
According to IMANI’s brief, if there’s one company that embodies Ghana’s cocoa paradox, it’s the Cocoa Processing Company. The company envisioned to lead Ghana’s value addition drive has become a cautionary tale of how politics and inefficiency can cripple an otherwise promising business.
IMANI’s analysis points to multiple internal weaknesses. This ranges from political interference, inefficient management, and sluggish decision-making.
These, combined with broader industry challenges like high energy tariffs and raw material shortages, have kept the company in perpetual decline.
While private processors often focus on semi-finished products like cocoa liquor and butter, CPC goes a step further, producing finished goods such as chocolate and beverages. But that ambition comes at a steep cost. To produce these items, CPC must import inputs like sugar, milk, and packaging materials, all of which have become expensive due to taxes, import duties, and currency depreciation.
This leaves the company in a tight corner: heavier expenses, delayed state support, and competition in a market too small to absorb its finished products.
“Beyond operational constraints, CPC suffers from political interference, inefficient management, and delayed decision-making. Unlike private processors that mostly focus on semi-finished products, CPC produces finished goods, which require importing additional inputs like sugar and milk, all at a high cost. This means CPC’s operations carry heavier expenses but compete in the same weak market,” IMANI noted.
A Broken System That Needs Fixing
The problem, IMANI argues, is not just CPC’s internal weaknesses but the entire system in which it operates. Cocoa processors in Ghana face high financing costs, limited access to beans, and weak policy support.
The result is an industry that survives on government bailouts rather than business efficiency.
Without reform, IMANI warns, Ghana will continue to export raw beans while others capture the real value from cocoa including jobs, technology, and revenue.
The way forward, IMANI suggests, lies in replicating Côte d’Ivoire’s success. Ghana must ensure processors have steady access to quality beans by setting aside a domestic allocation before exporting.
Energy costs should be reviewed to make processing more competitive, and government policies must link local processors to international buyers to guarantee demand.
Above all, state-owned enterprises like CPC must be depoliticized and managed with clear performance benchmarks.
