Traders and cooperatives say Ivory Coast's new mandatory producer card could slow cocoa purchases through October and November, just as the 2026/27 season ramps up.
Ivorian cocoa traders, cooperatives, and buying agents are struggling to use a new electronic traceability system. The country's cocoa regulator made it mandatory for every purchase starting September 1, Reuters reported Sept. 9.
Key Facts
- About 40% of the world's cocoa comes from Ivory Coast, which sends 70% of it to Europe.
- Every cocoa purchase has required an electronic producer card since September 1, 2026.
- The Coffee and Cocoa Council has bought 20,000 new payment terminals, distributed by prior-season purchase volume.
The mandate is meant to get Ivory Coast's cocoa sector ahead of the European Union's Deforestation Regulation. The rule takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. It requires commodities such as cocoa to be traceable back to the exact plot where they were grown, not just the general region that supplied them.
Ivory Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Council built its national traceability system around three tools, per the Agence Ivoirienne de Presse. The producer card identifies the farmer and links to their geolocated plot. A payment terminal records each transaction's weight and payment amount.
Tracking seals follow each lot from the growing region to the export ports of Abidjan and San Pedro.
New Electronic Card Required for Every Cocoa Purchase
The Coffee and Cocoa Council mandated the card for every cocoa transaction starting Sept. 1, the opening of the 2026/27 season.
Buyers, cooperatives, and field agents now record each purchase through the digital system instead of the paper-based process used in past seasons.
Training has lagged behind the rollout. The council has promoted the new system since March. Many buyers, cooperatives, and field agents remain unfamiliar with it, said a director of an Abidjan-based European export company.
"People are still surprised and know nothing about how to use digital tools," the director added.
Cooperatives and Agents Lack Payment Terminals and Equipment
Many cooperatives and buying agents have not yet received the equipment the system requires, per exporters. The shortage is slowing deals in rural cocoa-growing areas, where cooperatives and field agents handle much of the country's direct buying from farmers.
"Our suppliers lack payment terminals, bags, and seals to carry out purchases," said the director of a European export company in Abidjan.
The CCC has not supplied all the needed equipment, according to the director. The gap has extended purchasing times and delayed deliveries in some areas.
CCC Says It Bought 20,000 New Terminals
The CCC reported finishing terminal installation and distributing equipment based on each buyer's purchase volume from the previous season. It bought 20,000 new terminals for the rollout.
CCC Director Yves Brahima Kone acknowledged the difficulties but called them minor. "It'll take a few months, but we'll get there," Kone added.
