Alarm!

One of the root causes of slavery and illegal child labor in cocoa is the low price the farmer receives for cocoa beans. It's been that way for years. The low cocoa price has now fallen even further, by almost 40% compared to last year. Forty percent yes.

What exactly does this price drop mean for the income of cocoa farmers and what are we doing to compensate this for Tony's partner farmers? We are happy to explain this to you.

Effective income..

We'll start with a few basic concepts to get you started. The 'farmgate price' is the price that a cocoa farmer receives for a kilo of cocoa. In Ghana and Ivory Coast, the government determines this farmgate price annually. Because a cocoa farmer cannot earn a living income with this price, Tony's pays an extra premium on top of the farm gate price: the 'Tony's premium'. This Tony's premium consists of the Fairtrade premium, which we pay through the Fairtrade certification, and an additional premium that we pay directly to the cooperatives, so that the cocoa farmers can earn a living income. The Ivorian and Ghanaian governments export cocoa at the 'international cocoa price'. This price is determined by the trade in cocoa on the world market. Supply and demand play a role in this.

price reduction

Last year was a good cocoa year. A good harvest means a lot of supply. This caused the international cocoa price to drop by almost 40%. Due to the decreased international cocoa price, the Ivorian government has reduced the farm gate price from 1,100 CFA ($2.00) per kilo to 700 CFA ($1.27) per kilo. This is a major problem, because it makes farmers even poorer and poverty is the main cause of slavery and illegal child labor. In Ghana, the government did not lower the farmgate price. That's great for the Ghanaian cocoa farmer, but it means the Ghanaian government has less money to invest in schools, roads and hospitals.

compensate with Tony's premium

With the Tony's premium we compensate the difference between the price at which a cocoa farmer can earn a living income and the farm gate price. In Ivory Coast, we more than doubled our additional premium and increased it from $175 to $400 per tonne of cocoa to close the gap. Together with the Fairtrade premium of $200 per tonne of cocoa, we will pay $1870 per tonne in Ivory Coast this year. So that's 47% on top of the farmgate price. We pay the extra Tony's premium directly to the cooperatives of our partner farmers, so that not every link (such as local and international traders, cocoa processors or bar makers) in the chocolate chain receives a percentage of this higher premium. In this way we circumvent the system of miraculous value increases in the chain. Our chocolate is therefore becoming cheaper, despite the increase in our Tony's premium. As of today - Tuesday April 3 - we will therefore reduce the recommended consumer price by 1.5%.

Only together can we make chocolate 100% slave-free

We believe that large chocolate companies should follow our example by also paying a higher price to cocoa farmers. This way, more farmers can earn a living income and slavery and illegal child labor will come to an end. Because Tony's only purchases cocoa directly from 5,000 of the 2.5 million cocoa farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast. So we need followers. Unfortunately, the sound of the large chocolate companies is: 'good news: chocolate is becoming cheaper due to the low price on the world market.' But you now know who pays the price. So it's time to sound the alarm. Are you participating? 

Share this message to jointly increase the pressure on the chocolate industry. Because the more chocolate companies follow our example, the sooner we achieve our mission. Only if we share the advantages and disadvantages honestly with each other will we make chocolate together 100% slave-free.