China’s entry into (and increased) cocoa bean production is good news for the industry, and it’s also a big surprise for the industry. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are traditional cocoa bean producers in sub-Saharan Africa, and China’s cocoa beans will also become “the northernmost cocoa bean in the world”.
China to export cocoa beans to Belgium for the first time in 2020
China will export cocoa beans for the first time in 2020. The first customer is the pillar country of the chocolate industry – Belgium. The export price is 50 yuan (RMB) per kilogram, which is two to three times the price of the international bulk commodity cocoa beans, indicating that the quality of the cocoa beans produced in Hainan has been recognized by the international market.
The first batch of cocoa beans exported from China is more of a symbol, possibly heralding a bright future for the country’s cocoa beans, the northernmost cocoa beans in the world. This is the result of the work of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences in Hainan Province. Hainan, an island province south of the Tropic of Cancer, is the size of Belgium and Luxembourg combined, and its economy has long been dominated by agriculture. The Academy of Agricultural Sciences has more than 4,000 employees, of which more than 3,000 are researchers.
Strong market demand for Chinese cocoa beans
Since the first export order was realized, the order volume in 2021 has quadrupled, and the output of Hainan’s cocoa beans is seriously in short supply.
Officials said that with the growing global demand for chocolate, Hainan Province has expanded the area of cocoa beans and has made great progress in cultivation technology. At present, some companies have invested in cocoa cultivation in Hainan Province, and more and more domestic and foreign companies are seeking cooperation.
In the face of China’s entry into the “cocoa bean world”, the magazine “African Youth” published an article entitled: “Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, wake up!” The article stated that the “hegemony” of the two traditional cocoa bean producing countries is being China has “threatened”, although not so far, that sub-Saharan African countries still account for 86% of the world’s cocoa production.
Although China’s cocoa bean cultivation is still in its infancy, we also expect China to create miracles in the cocoa field. China also hopes to have close technical exchanges and cooperation with other countries in the future to help improve the level of global cocoa production.