{"id":54,"date":"2020-01-19T13:47:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T13:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/?p=54"},"modified":"2020-05-22T14:25:55","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T14:25:55","slug":"boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"Boosting Cocoa Prices \u201cThe Right Thing To Do,\u201d Despite Bottom Line Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Chocolate Manufacturers Support Higher Cocoa Prices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite increasing input costs for chocolate products, major food manufacturers are publicly supporting higher cocoa prices in order to boost West African farmer income according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/new-cocoa-cartel-could-overhaul-global-chocolate-industry-11578261601?mod=article_inline\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d said Mondelez Chief of Global Impact, Sustainability and Well-being, Christine McGrath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Mars spokesperson Joseph Gerbino \u201cMars believes\nboosting the income of cocoa farmers while ensuring cocoa is grown sustainably\nis key to a thriving cocoa sector.\u201d Hershey spokesman Jeff Beckman echoed this\nsentiment, noting, \u201cCocoa farmers should be able to support their families and\nearn a decent standard of living, and we support the goal of raising farmer\nincomes.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, the governments of Ghana and Ivory Coast, which\ntogether produce 65% of the world\u2019s cocoa, formed a cocoa cartel, and announced\nit will charge an additional $400 per ton for cocoa, representing a greater\nthan 15% increase. The higher prices are an attempt to improve the income of\nlocal farmers in the West African countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although attempts to support cocoa prices have failed in the past, the current effort has met with early success, with support from the world\u2019s major customers. Nestle has already locked in supplies of cocoa at the new higher rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the manufacturers will be challenged by the higher prices, they are clearly communicating that sustainability comes ahead of near-term profits. Labor and human rights issues are particularly challenging for companies sourcing cocoa from Ghana and the Ivory Coast, countries which have become notorious for their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-usa-cocoa-childlabor\/made-with-child-labor-major-chocolate-companies-flunk-scorecard-idUSKBN1WP34L\">use of child labor<\/a> over the past several decades. This has become a significant source of ESG risk for these companies. Supporting higher standards of living for farmers may help boost their sustainability profiles in these countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cocoa producers and food manufacturers will have to watch the impact of the cartel\u2019s actions very carefully, however. Even if the price increase is effective in aiding local farmers, the ripple effect may have other negative sustainability issues. Ghana and Ivory Coast have experienced massive deforestation to make room for cocoa growth, and higher prices may increase the pace of land clearing, if the cartel cannot successfully control supply. Furthermore, increased cocoa demand could conceivably boost the use of child labor in these countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This issue highlights many of the delicate challenges for\ncompanies in managing their businesses with ESG concerns at the forefront, even\nbeyond profitability concerns.<\/p>\n<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-54\" data-postid=\"54\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-54 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    <\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->\n<span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chocolate Manufacturers Support Higher Cocoa Prices Despite increasing input costs for chocolate products, major food manufacturers are publicly supporting higher cocoa prices in order to boost West African farmer income according to the Wall Street Journal. \u201cIt\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d said Mondelez Chief of Global Impact, Sustainability and Well-being, Christine McGrath. According to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8,28],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Boosting Cocoa Prices \u201cThe Right Thing To Do,\u201d Despite Bottom Line Impact - ESG Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boosting Cocoa Prices \u201cThe Right Thing To Do,\u201d Despite Bottom Line Impact - ESG Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chocolate Manufacturers Support Higher Cocoa Prices Despite increasing input costs for chocolate products, major food manufacturers are publicly supporting higher cocoa prices in order to boost West African farmer income according to the Wall Street Journal. \u201cIt\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d said Mondelez Chief of Global Impact, Sustainability and Well-being, Christine McGrath. According to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ESG Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ESGToday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-19T13:47:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-22T14:25:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cocoa-fruit-1561361.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Segal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EsgToday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EsgToday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Segal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Segal\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cca7a2b05e3a06d096e5740fb1433a01\"},\"headline\":\"Boosting Cocoa Prices \u201cThe Right Thing To Do,\u201d Despite Bottom Line Impact\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-19T13:47:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-22T14:25:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/\"},\"wordCount\":414,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Companies\",\"Social\",\"Social &amp; Governance\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/\",\"name\":\"Boosting Cocoa Prices \u201cThe Right Thing To Do,\u201d Despite Bottom Line Impact - ESG Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-19T13:47:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-22T14:25:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Boosting Cocoa Prices \u201cThe Right Thing To Do,\u201d Despite Bottom Line Impact\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/\",\"name\":\"ESG Today\",\"description\":\"ESG investing news, analysis, research and information\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"ESG Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ESG-Today-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ESG-Today-Logo.png\",\"width\":618,\"height\":350,\"caption\":\"ESG Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ESGToday\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EsgToday\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/esg-today\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cca7a2b05e3a06d096e5740fb1433a01\",\"name\":\"Mark Segal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68fbfd7923e36d210feb00a7621096af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68fbfd7923e36d210feb00a7621096af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Segal\"},\"description\":\"Mark founded ESG Today following a 20 year career in investment management and research. Prior to founding ESG Today, Mark worked at Delaney Capital Management (DCM) in Toronto, Canada, most recently as the firm\u2019s head of U.S. equities. While at DCM, Mark was part of the firm\u2019s ESG team, responsible for evaluating and tracking the sustainability factors impacting portfolio companies, and assessing the suitability of companies for portfolio inclusion. Mark also spent several years in the sell-side research industry, covering the technology and services sectors. Mark holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York, a BBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, and is a CFA charterholder.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/author\/mo-segal9\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Boosting Cocoa Prices \u201cThe Right Thing To Do,\u201d Despite Bottom Line Impact - ESG Today","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Boosting Cocoa Prices \u201cThe Right Thing To Do,\u201d Despite Bottom Line Impact - ESG Today","og_description":"Chocolate Manufacturers Support Higher Cocoa Prices Despite increasing input costs for chocolate products, major food manufacturers are publicly supporting higher cocoa prices in order to boost West African farmer income according to the Wall Street Journal. \u201cIt\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d said Mondelez Chief of Global Impact, Sustainability and Well-being, Christine McGrath. According to [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/","og_site_name":"ESG Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ESGToday\/","article_published_time":"2020-01-19T13:47:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-22T14:25:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cocoa-fruit-1561361.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mark Segal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EsgToday","twitter_site":"@EsgToday","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Segal","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/"},"author":{"name":"Mark Segal","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cca7a2b05e3a06d096e5740fb1433a01"},"headline":"Boosting Cocoa Prices \u201cThe Right Thing To Do,\u201d Despite Bottom Line Impact","datePublished":"2020-01-19T13:47:37+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-22T14:25:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/"},"wordCount":414,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Companies","Social","Social &amp; Governance"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/","name":"Boosting Cocoa Prices \u201cThe Right Thing To Do,\u201d Despite Bottom Line Impact - ESG Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-01-19T13:47:37+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-22T14:25:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/boosting-cocoa-prices-the-right-thing-to-do-despite-bottom-line-impact\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Boosting Cocoa Prices \u201cThe Right Thing To Do,\u201d Despite Bottom Line Impact"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/","name":"ESG Today","description":"ESG investing news, analysis, research and information","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#organization","name":"ESG Today","url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ESG-Today-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ESG-Today-Logo.png","width":618,"height":350,"caption":"ESG Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ESGToday\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/EsgToday","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/esg-today\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cca7a2b05e3a06d096e5740fb1433a01","name":"Mark Segal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68fbfd7923e36d210feb00a7621096af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68fbfd7923e36d210feb00a7621096af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Segal"},"description":"Mark founded ESG Today following a 20 year career in investment management and research. Prior to founding ESG Today, Mark worked at Delaney Capital Management (DCM) in Toronto, Canada, most recently as the firm\u2019s head of U.S. equities. While at DCM, Mark was part of the firm\u2019s ESG team, responsible for evaluating and tracking the sustainability factors impacting portfolio companies, and assessing the suitability of companies for portfolio inclusion. Mark also spent several years in the sell-side research industry, covering the technology and services sectors. Mark holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York, a BBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, and is a CFA charterholder.","url":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/author\/mo-segal9\/"}]}},"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esgtoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}