President John Dramani Mahama has appointed Professor William Coffie as the Acting Managing Director of the Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), a pivotal institution in Ghana’s cocoa value chain. He steps into an office that feels less like a corner suite and more like the cockpit of a ship in stormy seas.
Once a proud pillar of Ghana’s industrial ambitions, CPC has been grinding out losses instead of profits. The company was built to process more than 64,000 tonnes of cocoa beans each year, but in 2024 it managed less than 3,300 tonnes. That’s not even 5% of its potential. The reasons are as bitter as they are complex: there aren’t enough beans to go around, and the ones that are available are painfully expensive.
Ghana’s cocoa harvest has slumped to multi-decade lows, hobbled by erratic weather, aging farms, and a surge in bean smuggling to neighbouring countries where farmers get higher prices. At the same time, the global cocoa market is in turmoil. In just over a year, prices have tripled, briefly topping $10,000 per tonne, a record high. Around the world, chocolate makers from Hershey to Lindt have hiked prices, shrunk bar sizes, and experimented with recipes to cope with the cost of their main ingredient.
Back home, the surge in global prices has been a double-edged sword. While it should have been good news for Ghana, the country’s fixed farmgate price means local farmers see only a fraction of the windfall. Many choose to sell their beans across borders, worsening shortages for companies like CPC.
The financial damage has been brutal. In the nine months to September 2024, CPC posted a loss of about $13 million. Even with a modest recovery in early 2025, the company was still in the red. Years of underinvestment have left its machinery outdated and inefficient, and every tonne it processes costs more than it brings in.
But the new MD does not inherit a lost cause. CPC has secured an $86.7 million loan from the African Export–Import Bank to pay down debts, upgrade equipment, and fund operations. COCOBOD has also promised a steadier supply of beans. If used wisely, these could buy the breathing space the company needs to modernise and reset.
For a company like CPC, positioning itself as a premium, value-added processor could turn today’s crisis into tomorrow’s advantage.
Steering that transformation now falls to Professor William Coffie, a financial economist, chartered accountant, and chartered marketer with over two decades of expertise in accounting, finance, investment, and economics. Currently, the Head of the Department of Accounting at the University of Ghana Business School, Prof. Coffie’s career spans senior academic roles in the UK, a visiting professorship in Hong Kong, and extensive consulting engagements with institutions such as the African Development Bank and Ghana’s Ministry of Finance.
His connection to cocoa is not just professional, but personal. His grandfather was among the founding staff of the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board in 1948, and his father later served as a Depot Manager in Sefwi Awaso. Prof. Coffie himself planted his first cocoa farm in 1994, blending academic expertise with first-hand agricultural experience. He has researched both COCOBOD and CPC extensively, giving him rare insight into the company’s long-standing operational and financial challenges.
Now, at the helm of a company still grappling with bean shortages, soaring input prices, decades-old infrastructure, and fierce global competition, Prof. Coffie must find a way to modernize operations, secure sustainable supplies, and carve a profitable niche in a volatile market.
If he can align CPC with global demand for sustainable, premium cocoa products, he could not only restore its fortunes but also strengthen Ghana’s entire cocoa value chain.
The question is, in these rough cocoa waters, can the new MD truly turn the ship around?
