African cocoa exports to Europe are among the oldest established directional flows in the global commodities trade, accounting for more than two-thirds of the cocoa trade.
But with the start of China's zero-tariff regime for African goods in May, exporters of the main ingredient in chocolate, are now looking east as they contemplate export expansion, according to industry officials.
For Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, the two largest cocoa exporters, cocoa products entering China faced import tariffs ranging from about 8% to 22%, depending on whether the cocoa was exported in a raw or processed state. Those tariffs have now been removed under the new regime.
"The policy definitely is an incentive to increase exports of cocoa to China, which has a very large population," Adeola Adegoke, president of the Cocoa and Coffee Farmers Alliance of Africa, told African Business.
Originally published by African Business.