From Ghana Web

Ghana’s falling currency has fueled smuggling of as much as 100,000 tonnes of cocoa into neighbouring Ivory Coast since October, reversing a trend, industry sources said.

Cocoa smuggling between the world’s two biggest cocoa producers is common, but over the past decade it has mainly involved Ivorian beans being taken illegally to Ghana.

That has changed this season.

Ghana’s cedi currency, which the government has struggled to prop up, has fallen nearly 23 percent against the dollar so far this year, while Ivory Coast’s euro-pegged CFA franc has remained stable, making the country’s official farmer price around 24 percent higher than Ghana’s.

Exporters said the Ivorian price is now seen as more attractive by Ghanaian farmers, who can make bigger profits selling their output to smugglers.

“(The smuggling) is due primarily to the weakness of the currency in Ghana,” said Edward George, head of soft commodities research at Ecobank.

George said he had spoken to private sector representatives in Ghana as well as officials from Ghana’s marketing board, Cocobod.

Read more at Ghana Web