Following an extensive process of data analysis and consultation with farmers, cocoa experts, and chocolate brands, today Fairtrade is publishing updated Living Income Reference Prices for cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
Available as a reference for the chocolate industry, these prices are the minimum price a farmer should be paid to be able to attain a living income, meaning they can afford nutritious food, decent housing, education, transportation, and other essentials.
The updated prices rely on the best available information about the necessary key variables, including yields, sustainable farming practices, and farm costs from several recent studies and farmers’ own records. The final values in the price calculation were thoroughly reviewed and endorsed by cocoa stakeholders in both Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
The new reference prices, calculated in local currency, are converted to $2.68 per kilo of cocoa from Ghana, a 26 percent increase over the previous one, and €2.65 ($2.80) per kilo from Côte d’Ivoire, a 20 percent increase. As Fairtrade does with its minimum price, the Ivorian reference price is set in euros instead of US dollars to reduce the effect of exchange rate fluctuations between dollars and the local currency.
“We are pleased to share the update on these reference prices, which over the past five years have become an important part of the cocoa landscape and conversation on living incomes,” said Carla Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Fairtrade International’s Senior Advisor for Sustainable Livelihoods. “We started this latest review when global market prices were much lower and paying a Living Income Reference Price meant significant additional payments that not many companies were prepared to commit to. Today we see the cocoa industry paying even higher prices, so there is no longer an excuse to purchase cocoa beans below this benchmark even when the market prices eventually drop.”
The increases to the prices stem mainly from factoring in higher costs of living, smaller actual cocoa-growing areas, and a reduction in the amount of farm-grown food for household consumption in Côte d’Ivoire. In addition, Fairtrade also revisited its definition of a realistic target productivity level that is factored into the price equation, such that the target should be achievable within two years for the average farmer adopting the recommended good agricultural practices. For Ghana, adding this time specification resulted in a 25 percent decrease in the target productivity level used in the calculation, from 800 kg/hectare to 600 kg/hectare.
The price updates come at a time of record-high global cocoa prices, which increased five-fold between 2022 and 2024. In the regulated Ivorian and Ghanaian markets, the government-set farmgate cocoa prices were also raised and are currently above the new Living Income Reference Prices. The governments announce their internal farmgate prices twice a year just before harvest seasons, in April and October.
Given the extreme volatility of cocoa prices, it is expected that today’s extreme prices will not hold in the long term. The reference prices will remain an important stabilising factor for farmers when market prices drop, since market uncertainty makes farmers reluctant to invest in their farms to improve productivity.
By publishing the analysis behind the updated reference prices, Fairtrade is also providing additional visibility and insights into the complexity of achieving living incomes for a broad variety of farmer realities. Beyond the factors of price and productivity, farmers need an adequate plot of cocoa to support their household size and may need other sources of income if their land is too small. While some farmers are already producing at or above the target yields, others will require additional support to get there. Fairtrade’s accompanying explanatory note details data on yield, costs of sustainable production, and various levels of income diversification for different farming scenarios, all of which contribute to the shared knowledge base in the cocoa sector.
The new references will take effect on 1 October 2025, when Fairtrade will publish any applicable differential if the government-set farmgate prices have fallen below the reference prices.
In addition, following more than five years of implementing and regularly updating the reference price values, in 2025 Fairtrade will launch an in-depth review of its cocoa reference price model. The process will foster active engagement with key stakeholders – including farmers, industry leaders, academics, and civil society advocates – to evaluate the model and ensure it continues to address real-world needs and challenges effectively.
“Leading chocolate brands, research institutes and advocates have provided valuable input in our consultations, and we look forward to continuing to refine and improve the Living Income Reference Prices so they will be widely acknowledged as the norm in the industry,” said Veldhuyzen.