The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has refuted claims by the Minority in Parliament that its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) lied about cocoa forward sales.
COCOBOD, in a statement, explained that it employed a diversified approach to cocoa sales, utilising forward, spot, and prepayment strategies based on market dynamics, funding, and collateral requirements.
“The use of forward sales is a deliberate strategy aimed at price risk mitigation and stock management,” it added.
It further noted that contrary to the impression conveyed, the allocation of 338,600 metric tonnes of cocoa as a guarantee for the syndicated loan did not imply that the remaining quantity would be or had been exclusively sold at spot prices.
“Forward sales serve the dual purpose of securing syndicated loans and strategically managing cocoa stocks,” it added.
COCOBOD said that at the time of determining the producer price for the 2023/2024 season, a substantial portion of the cocoa had been sold.
“The statement by the CEO is accurate and cannot be described as a lie.”
