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2024 Member Spotlight: Equal Exchange


Cooperative Partnerships Rule Over the Chocolate Market

by Laura Bechard, Equal Exchange Chocolate Supply Chain Coordinator

You have probably seen recent news articles about the unprecedented situation currently happening in the cocoa market. Honestly, this is a situation where no one really knows how or when it will ultimately resolve but we thought we would share some of our thoughts about what is happening and what this means for our farmer partners and chocolate lovers like you.

Equal Exchange is built on long-lasting partnerships. We have been working with some of the cacao cooperatives in our chocolate supply chains since we first launched our hot cocoa over 20 years ago. Given this is the highest the commodity market has ever been for cocoa, we have never experienced such a situation, nor have our partners. In April, the commodity cocoa futures prices reached nearly $12,000/MT (Metric Ton), up around 4 times what they were last year at this time. It has since come down to the $7,000-$8,000 range, which is still significantly higher than it had ever been prior to March of this year.


What is causing these historic and astronomical prices?

Just like corn, wheat, and soy, cocoa beans are bought and sold on the commodity market. It is subject to the free market swings of supply and demand. So typically, when the supply of cocoa beans goes down, the price goes up, and when supply goes up, the price goes down. Over 70% of the world’s cocoa beans come from West Africa, mainly the Ivory Coast and Ghana, and their most recent main harvest was down significantly due to varying factors including disease and abnormal weather patterns exacerbated by climate change. This has meant three back-to-back deficit years for the global cocoa market, which has strained supply and raised fears of continued supply problems. While this feels like an acutely current problem, one can argue the problem really stems from historically entrenched challenges in the conventional system such as low market prices and low farmgate prices paid to farmers, leading to a lack of resources and capacity to invest properly in farm maintenance and upkeep. The impact of this lack of investment is heightened when combined with the impact of changing weather patterns and climate change.

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Training As a Means to Transform Gender Inequalities

By Leslie Rosales and Paola Coronado

Over many years, Equal Exchange has established trade relationships with agricultural cooperatives made up of small farming families, committing to long-term partnerships with these agricultural organizations.

Currently, it is implementing the Cooperative Development Program (CDP) funded by USAID, through which it has identified both technical and social challenges that remain persistent. In light of this, it is crucial to recognize the transformative potential of agricultural cooperatives in promoting greater equality of opportunities and conditions for both men and women.

As part of the CDP, Equal Exchange developed a strategy to promote and incorporate gender equity in cooperatives in Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Peru– focusing on three key action lines: a) internal strengthening of cooperatives, b) development and institutionalization of gender-focused policies and management documents, and c) training processes on gender equity aimed at the cooperative’s farming families.

The program implemented by Equal Exchange views training as an opportunity to build new knowledge, foster dialogue, question, and transform socially imposed imaginaries, all from a critical perspective that is deeply connected to the realities of the people involved in these processes.

For this reason, during the implementation of the CDP, special emphasis has been placed on designing participatory methodologies that are rooted in the cultural context of each cooperative and aimed at fostering changes in attitudes and practices that promote inclusion and gender equity.

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Equal Exchange’s Global Co-op Partners

From farm to table, and together with their partners, Equal Exchange is changing existing power structures in the food system and proving that alternative trade works for farmers, consumers, and the planet we share. Learn about some of their partners in the profiles linked below.