The chocolate industry is getting stirred up by the innovation of Swiss scientist Kim Mishra and his team at Zurich’s Federal Institute of Technology. Switzerland, which has been producing chocolate since the nineteenth century, has seen continuous developments both in the way that chocolate is produced and consumed as new machinery and techniques are developed.
globalEDGE Blog - By Tag: ghana
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The cacao seed, which is used for the production of cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and chocolate, has seen several spikes in its supply over the past five years due to climate change, insects, and fungal infections. Paired with fluctuations in demand, the market has experienced a volatile commodity price for several years. Forecasts in 2014 predicted that the demand for cacao would outweigh its supply by 2020 and cause a global shortage. However, estimates have become even bleaker as scientists now predict that cacao may become extinct by 2050, as the main countries that produce the world’s supply of cacao will become unsuitable for cultivation due to climate change and deforestation. Even though this prognosis is still over 30 years away, is important now more than ever for countries and companies all around the world to increase their efforts to clean up the cocoa supply chain for a more sustainable future.
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Ok, so normally my globalEDGE blogs are a bit more topical, serious, and germane to my international business and trade interests. But I’m finding myself up early, from jetlag, in my hotel room in Nairobi, Kenya where I am attending the joint meeting of UNCTAD and the World Investment Forum, and it strikes me that cocoa beans have been in the news lately. And the world may not have noticed!
Let’s connect the dots. Kenya is of course in Africa, and Africa accounts for 73 percent of the world’s cocoa bean production according to a 2016 report by UNCTAD (but only 19 percent of the cocoa bean roasting/grinding/refinement which is done mainly in other parts of the world, led by Europe at 39 percent). In Africa, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire lead the way – each country has about 30 percent of their export earnings coming from the cocoa bean commodity. And therein lies the crux perhaps; that cocoa beans are viewed as a commodity.
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On Monday, March 9, Ghana and the International Monetary Fund made a deal to help stabilize the country’s struggling economy. The three-year plan was proposed after discussion of the government’s failure in reach targets for inflation, the budget deficit, and overall GDP growth. Members of the minority opposition “New Patriotic Party” believe that Ghana’s current economic state is the worst it’s been in over two decades.
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For the most part, Africa struggles to develop large amounts of energy, and Ghana is striving to change this. Apart from the northern and southern parts of the continent, Africa has no major energy sources and no efforts have really been made to fix the problem. Blue Energy, a British renewable energy investment firm officially verified plans to build Africa’s largest solar panel installation. It will be a one hundred fifty five megawatt photovoltaic plant, and construction will be located in Aiwaiso, Ghana. Officials are hoping that this is the start of a revolution for renewable energy in sub-Saharan Africa, and it will show whether or not governments can unlock the large potential that Africa holds for solar energy.
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Most African economies are known for their valuable commodities like oil, copper, and gas. But as of late, countries in Africa are adding a new focus to their economies with technology innovation. Countries throughout the continent have acknowledged technology as a key component in the battle to boost prosperity. This has sparked a technology revolution in a continent with high ambitions.
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How many times were you told as a child that chocolate was not good for you? Hundreds?
Well now you can call your mom up and in a sweet, loving way let her know she may have been wrong. Not only is cocoa helping roughly 50 million people make a living, but new discoveries that cocoa may have cardiovascular health benefits is helping increase the demand for this little black bean.