M. Shahbandeh
Research expert covering agriculture & FMCG
Cocoa industry - statistics & facts
The cocoa bean, also referred to as cocoa, is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa oil are extracted. The "beans" are the essential ingredient for chocolate and cacao products. Products received from cocoa beans are not only used in chocolates, but also in a wide range of food products. Global cocoa production is expected to reach over 4.5million tons in the 2023/2024 crop year. In recent years, the price of cocoa has remained well over two U.S. dollars per kilogram and had a big spike in 2023 to over three U.S. dollars per kilogram.
Leading cocoa producers
The cocoa tree is native to the Americas. It originally comes from Central America as well as some parts of Mexico. Today, over 70 percent of the world cacao is grown in Africa. In 2023/2024, the production of cocoa beans in Africa was estimated to be approximately 3.1 million metric tons, more than half of which, around 1.8 million tons, was produced on the Ivory Coast.Cocoa processing
The Netherlands and Côte d'Ivoire are the two biggest processors of cocoa beans worldwide. In the fiscal year of 2022/23, Côte d'Ivoire processed approximately 793,000 tons of cocoa beans. Alone in Europe almost 1.4 million tons of cocoa beans were processed in 2023. In 2023, Mars Wrigley Confectionery was the leading chocolate and cocoa manufacturer worldwide, with net sales of 22 billion U.S. dollars. Ferrero Group and Mondelēz rounded out the top three companies, both exceeding ten billion U.S. dollars in net sales.
