Ghana is taking steps to tackle one of the biggest weaknesses in its cocoa industry by securing new export markets before increasing domestic processing. The country’s cocoa marketing arm has lined up buyers in the Gulf to absorb more value-added cocoa products as production ramps up.
Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) Ghana Limited announced on July 7, 2026, that it had secured firm offtake commitments in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia for semi-finished cocoa products, including cocoa liquor, butter, cake and powder.
The agreements followed engagements led by CMC Managing Director Dr Wisdom Kofi Dogbey with Gulf commodities institutions and processing bodies. Discussions included meetings with the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) in Dubai and further talks in Riyadh. CMC did not reveal the value of the agreements, the expected export volumes or Ghana’s share of Gulf demand. It said the commitments are intended to guarantee buyers for products from local processing plants that are operating well below capacity.
That gap remains substantial. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ghanaian processors handled an average of about 220,000 metric tons of cocoa beans a year between 2023 and 2025, despite installed processing capacity reaching nearly 505,000 metric tons in 2025. Many processors have struggled to secure enough beans to keep their factories running at full capacity. More than 60 percent of Ghana’s cocoa harvest is still exported as raw beans, leaving significant opportunities for value addition untapped.
The new Gulf markets support the government’s drive to process more cocoa at home. Under President John Dramani Mahama’s policy, Ghana plans to allocate at least half of its cocoa bean production to domestic processing from the 2026/27 crop season. CMC said the agreements are a key part of that strategy, describing them as “an important step in CMC’s drive to diversify Ghana’s cocoa markets, increase the utilization of domestic processing capacity and ensure that value addition is supported by real and sustainable global demand.”
In the UAE, the partnership gives Ghana access to Dubai’s growing cocoa trading and processing ecosystem. Ahmad Hamza, a senior DMCC executive, said expanding Ghana’s cocoa exports into the UAE would benefit both sides. He pointed to DMCC’s success in developing coffee and tea trade networks and said the same model could link Ghanaian cocoa products with processors and traders across the Middle East and Asia. DMCC recently launched a dedicated Cacao Hub to capitalise on a global cocoa market projected to grow from about $16.6 billion in 2025 to $26.2 billion by 2035. The premium chocolate market is also expected to expand from $31.9 billion in 2024 to $40.6 billion by 2030.
Saudi Arabia presents a different opportunity. The kingdom imports relatively small amounts of raw cocoa beans, purchasing about $200,400 worth, or roughly 24,892 kilograms, in 2024. By contrast, it imported $701.4 million worth of cocoa-based preparations used in confectionery, bakery and beverage manufacturing during the same period. That makes processed cocoa products a much stronger export prospect for Ghana than raw beans. Saudi Arabia’s cocoa products and industrial chocolate market, valued at $530.08 million in 2025, is forecast to almost double to $995.03 million by 2035 as part of the country’s Vision 2030 food diversification programme.
The agreements come at a challenging time for Ghana and Ivory Coast, which together produce about half of the world’s cocoa. Both countries are grappling with volatile prices, weaker demand from chocolate manufacturers, crop disease, ageing plantations, illegal mining and delayed payments to farmers.
Ghana has been hit particularly hard in 2026. Around 50,000 tonnes of cocoa beans remain unsold after international buyers scaled back purchases, while farmers also faced a reduction in the fixed farmgate price earlier this year. Even so, cocoa paste remained Ghana’s largest export product in 2025, earning $789.3 million. The cocoa sector still generates about 15 percent of the country’s export revenue, highlighting why CMC sees expanding sales of processed cocoa products to Gulf markets as a stronger long-term strategy than relying primarily on exports of raw beans to traditional Western markets.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah