COCOBOD Turns to Home Investors for US$1.4 Billion Cocoa Season Rescue

Economy: Ghana

Ghana’s cocoa board is asking its own country’s money to save the season: after three decades of foreign bank loans broke down, COCOBOD wants to raise US$1.4 billion at home before the new crop reaches the buying stations.

What COCOBOD Is Proposing

COCOBOD aims to raise GH¢16.3 billion — about US$1.4 billion — from domestic investors to finance purchases from farmers in the 2026/27 season, according to a government presentation made to investors last Thursday and seen by Reuters.

The programme runs through Cocoa Capital PLC, a new special-purpose vehicle owned by the board. A first tranche is expected this week, comprising a GH¢2.3 billion bond and GH¢4 billion in commercial paper.

The instruments have distinct jobs. Commercial paper with tenors of 15 to 270 days will finance seasonal cocoa purchases as the crop arrives; bonds with maturities of up to five years will refinance existing short-term debts held by COCOBOD. The programme documentation states that commercial-paper proceeds support payments relating to cocoa beans delivered by licensed buying companies.

The sector is too large to leave unfunded. Cocoa accounts for roughly 4 to 6% of Ghana’s GDP, depending on methodology, and around 30% of export earnings, anchoring the cedi’s foreign-exchange inflows. A failed raise would therefore be a macroeconomic event for Ghana, not merely a farming one.

How the Old Model Collapsed

For more than thirty years Ghana funded each cocoa season the same way: a syndicate of international banks lent roughly US$1.3 to 1.5 billion against future export revenues, and COCOBOD used the money to pay farmers. The arrangement, in place since the 1992/93 crop season, broke down in 2023/24 as the board’s debts mounted and deliveries faltered.

A fallback under which international trading houses pre-financed purchases then fell through last season, contributing to delays in payments to farmers. The collapse left buyers facing losses and growers waiting for their money, eroding trust in the state purchasing system just as the new season approaches. Farmers and buyers have blamed the funding uncertainty for doubts over the timing of the season, which opens as the main crop reaches buying stations.

The board has spent 2026 repairing its balance sheet. In September it paid GH¢2.3 billion to holders of its restructured bonds, taking its payments to affected bondholders this year to GH¢2.68 billion (about US$231 million). The domestic programme is now the test of whether that repair has restored enough confidence to fund a full season without foreign lenders.

Farmers, Buyers and a Shrinking Crop

Ghana’s licensed cocoa buyers said last week that they are owed about GH¢4 billion by COCOBOD for last season’s crop, and want it settled before the new crop year begins. The February decision to cut the farmgate price from GH¢58,000 to GH¢41,392 per tonne — Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson called Ghanaian cocoa “uncompetitive and very expensive” at the time — has already squeezed farm incomes.

The production backdrop makes the financing more urgent, not less. Ghana’s cocoa output is expected to fall by at least 16% in 2026/27 because of weather conditions, crop disease, ageing farms and the expansion of illegal gold mining into cocoa-growing areas. A smaller crop means every financed tonne matters more for export earnings.

The risks are symmetrical, as market analysts note: Accra must persuade local investors to finance a sector carrying considerable legacy obligations, while ensuring that debt repayments do not consume the proceeds needed to pay farmers and keep cocoa flowing to export markets.

What We Could Not Confirm

We could not confirm the pricing of the first tranche — coupon rates, subscription levels and the identity of anchor investors have not been published — nor the schedule and size of the remaining tranches up to the full GH¢16.3 billion.

It is also not yet clear whether international buyers will complement the domestic raise with a new pre-financing arrangement for 2026/27, or whether the GH¢4 billion owed to buying companies will be fully settled before the season opens. Nor has the board said how the programme interacts with February’s farmgate price cut, which left many farmers earning GH¢41,392 per tonne while their buyers waited for payment. We will update this report when COCOBOD publishes the tranche results.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is COCOBOD’s US$1.4 billion plan?

Ghana’s state cocoa board is seeking to raise GH¢16.3 billion (about US$1.4 billion) from domestic investors, through a new special-purpose vehicle called Cocoa Capital PLC, to fund cocoa purchases in the 2026/27 season. The first tranche — a GH¢2.3 billion bond plus GH¢4 billion in commercial paper — is due this week.

Why did Ghana stop borrowing abroad for cocoa?

The syndicated-loan model with international banks, used every season since 1992/93, collapsed in 2023/24 as COCOBOD’s debts grew. A pre-financing arrangement with international trading houses then fell through last season, causing payment delays to farmers and pushing the board towards domestic debt markets.

When will the new funding reach farmers?

The first tranche is expected this week. Commercial paper with tenors of up to 270 days is designed to finance purchases as the new crop arrives at buying stations, but COCOBOD has not published a disbursement timetable, and buying companies say about GH¢4 billion from last season is still owed.