Cocoa: the versatile raw material and its rise in the international market
Cocoa, a fruit that is currently known worldwide for being the raw material for chocolate, has several versions as to its origin, with some claiming that this fruit arose in the hydrographic basin of the Amazon River , in South America, while others claim that it has its origins in the Aztec and Mayan civilizations.
With the expansion of the chocolate market, consequently, cocoa acquired greater importance in the economic sphere, so that there were several attempts to implement the cocoa crop in different world regions, and its seeds were gradually disseminated around the world. Thus, in 2017, according to the Agrolink website, around 90% of all Brazilian cocoa production is exported, with Brazil being the 5th largest cocoa producer in the world, along with Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. Thus, in 2017, Brazilian cocoa exports averaged 22.36 tons, with total sales of US$62.23 million, which is an effect of high cocoa prices on the international market. Consequently, there was an increase in the income of Brazilian exports, in line with Valor Econômico.
According to Ipeadata, since 1932 cocoa exports have grown at a disruptive pace. This is due to the fact that the cocoa industry has not only been limited to the manufacture of chocolate, but also the export of raw materials already processed, such as cocoa butter, which exports around $173 million a year, and cocoa powder, which had a total export value for the year 2017 of $65.8 million, in accordance with The Observatory of Economic Complexity.
The contribution of cocoa in the economic sphere of Brazil is noted, as the country is the third largest confectioner in the world, only behind the United States and Germany, so that the cocoa chain participates with about R $20 billion in Brazilian GDP, according to APEX Brasil. Therefore, cocoa increased by 64 USD/MT or 2.67% just in the beginning of 2019, so with the rise and, consequently, the appreciation of cocoa we see that this market has become a global trend conducive to export.
By Leila Beija-Flor on 07/25/2019
Sources:
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