Cocoa industry fears Ebola

Ebola hasn't been detected in the two West African countries that produce more than half of the world's cocoa -- and the global chocolate industry wants to keep it that way.



The World Cocoa Foundation, an industry group made up of heavyweights in the cocoa and chocolate business such as Mars, Cargill and Mondelez International, announced a $US600,000 donation to support Ebola care and prevention efforts in West Africa at a meeting on Wednesday. The money was solicited from members and will be divided between several organisations, the WCF said.



Prices for the key-chocolate ingredient surged to 3.5-year highs on the futures market late last month on concerns that the deadly Ebola outbreak could spread to Ivory Coast or Ghana, which together produce about 60 per cent of the world's cocoa. No cases of the virus have been reported in either country to date, but Ivory Coast shares a border with Liberia and Guinea, two of the countries hardest hit by the virus.



Ebola "is something that we're deeply concerned about," said Bill Guyton, president of the WCF. "In addition to financial resources, the industry has a network on the ground," which is being used to spread information about the disease to farmers, Mr Guyton said.



Even a small number of Ebola cases in Ivory Coast could have a sweeping impact in the cocoa market, analysts say. Cocoa is grown on tiny plots, with growers selling their beans to middlemen who ride from farm to farm on motorbikes gathering the crop to transport to the coast for export. The travel restrictions and quarantines used to contain the disease could quickly isolate millions of farmers, choking off supplies to the world's chocolate makers just as they're expecting an influx of beans.



The region's main cocoa-harvesting season began on Oct. 1, which has pressured futures prices over the last few weeks. On Tuesday, cocoa for delivery in December on ICE Futures US settled at $US3,102 a ton, down 8 per cent from the 3 1/2-year high hit on Sept. 24.



"One thing the industry can do is ensure that the industry keeps running," said Barry Parkin, chief sustainability officer at Mars, maker of M&M's and Twix.



That includes reassuring consumers that eating chocolate is safe. "Ebola is not a food-borne illness," Mr Parkin said.



Mars is still operating as normal in West African cocoa-growing countries, Mr Parkin said.



"The best way to help West African cocoa farmers and their communities is to continue to buy the cocoa that they grow," Mr Guyton said.

Originally published as Cocoa industry fears Ebola