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Economic policies
- The 2001 International Cocoa Agreement
- The Use of Vegetable Fats
The 2001 International Cocoa Agreement
The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) was established in 1973 to administer the first International Cocoa Agreement (1972) and its successor Agreements of 1975, 1980, 1986, 1993 and 2001.
The objectives of the Sixth International Cocoa Agreement (2001) are:
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To promote international cooperation in the world cocoa economy;
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To provide an appropriate framework for the discussion of all matters relating to all sectors thereof;
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To contribute to the strengthening of the national cocoa economies of Member countries, in particular through the preparation of appropriate projects to be submitted to the relevant institutions for financing and implementation;
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To contribute to a balanced development of the world cocoa economy in the interest of all Members through appropriate measures, including:
- Promoting a sustainable cocoa economy;
- Promoting research and the implementation of its findings;
- Promoting transparency in the world cocoa economy through the collection, analysis and dissemination of relevant statistics and undertaking of appropriate studies; and
- Promoting and encouraging consumption of chocolate and cocoa-based products in order to increase demand for cocoa in close cooperation with the private sector.
The Agreement includes 40 member countries, both exporters and importers of cocoa and one inter-governmental organization (the European Union). As of January 2001 the following countries were members of ICCO:
Exporting members: Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Grenada, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
Importing members: Austria, Belgium-Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, European Union.
Since the year 2000, the European Union has decided to accept a 5% content of vegetable fats in chocolate products. This ruling means that instead of a fat content of 100% cocoa butter, up to 5% may be cocoa butter equivalents such as palm oil, illipe, sal, shea, kokum gurgi and mango kernel.
The effects of this Directive EC2000/36 (144 Kb in pdf format) are not yet measurable, although cocoa producers have claimed that it will reduce worldwide demand for cocoa beans by up to 200,000 tons a year.
