Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer says it plans to list cocoa on the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) to boost the value of the product and drive up proces, an official disclosed late Wednesday.
Setutsi Ivowi Chief Executive Officer of the GCX, said this during the one-day maiden Ghana Commodities Symposium in the capital of Accra, under the theme, “Transforming Commodity Trading Through Structured Markets.”
Ivowi (also referred to as (Tucci Ivowi)) said, being the country’s leading export cash crop, cocoa would be listed on the exchange to deepen the confidence of traders and stakeholders in the five-year-old commodity bourse.
Also, she said, since Ghana does not want to remain a price taker in the global cocoa trade, the commodity exchange would help to facilitate real price discovery.
“Cocoa is one of our national products and a big export product. So, there is no way we can establish the national commodities exchange and not trade cocoa. So, cocoa, as a flagship commodity of Ghana, should be traded as should other flagship commodities,” the CEO stated.
To start with, she said the GCX would like to trade the light-season commodity to develop the appetite for cocoa among traders before scaling up.
To facilitate the process, Ivowi said the GCX has been holding discussions with the Ghana Cocoa Board, the regulator of the cocoa industry in Ghana, and the International Cocoa Organization (ICO) to support the initiative.
She said the discussions with the ICO also included supporting the continent to establish an African cocoa exchange or supporting African countries with commodity exchanges to trade cocoa.
In his remarks, Food and Agriculture Minister Brian Acheampong said the establishment of the GCX has brought some orderliness and structure into the trading of agriculture commodities in the country.
Acheampong said Ghana can only benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area if it has a well-structured trading system such as the GCX.
“The GCX is leading the way, and we should all support them to position Ghana in the foreseat of trade in Africa,” the minister urged.
Ghana established the GCX in Nov. 2018 and so far, trades agriculture commodities including maize, millet, rice, sorghum, sesame, and soybean on spot contracts, with 10 large warehouses already operational and farmers, traders, and sellers receiving payment within 24 hours of selling their products on the GCX.
Ghana is the second-largest world cocoa producer with 683,000 metric tons in the 2022/2023 season.