Ivory Coast cocoa traceability rates fail to improve as EU anti-deforestation law looms

By May Angel

LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - The amount of Ivorian cocoa that can be traced back to where it was grown remains at just under half, calling into question how the world's top cocoa grower will manage to comply with the EU's looming anti-deforestation law, according to a new analysis released on Tuesday by the non-profit Trase.

From December the law will require that EU importers of commodities and related goods prove their products weren't grown on deforested land by, among other measures, tracing their raw materials back to the plot on which they were grown.

According to Trase, only 48% of Ivory Coast's 2024 cocoa exports can be traced back to the farming cooperatives that grew the beans, largely because the rest of the supply chain is "indirect" or composed of several intermediaries.

The figures have not changed much since the non-profit's prior analysis published two years ago.

"The prevalence of indirect supplies of cocoa and the resulting lack of visibility into its origins makes it very difficult for companies to address issues such as deforestation or child labour," said UK-based Trase, which maps the international trade and financing of agricultural commodities using publicly available data.

Ivory Coast's cocoa regulator did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In order to help meet the EU regulations, the country has opted for a digitalised sales and purchasing system that also facilitates verification.

LIMITED AMOUNT OF FOREST REMAINS

The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) has been hailed as a landmark in the fight against climate change but Brussels, which has twice delayed implementing the law, remains under pressure to delay it further and scale it back.

EU trade partners, including Brazil, Indonesia and, crucially, the U.S., say complying with the law is cumbersome and costly. As part of its trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, the EU committed to working to address U.S. concerns over the law.

Ivory Coast grows just over a third of the world's cocoa and the EU is its largest trading partner, importing 66% of the country's beans.

Between 2000 and 2024, 79% of the West African nation's forests were lost or degraded, according to Trase, with cocoa expansion accounting for nearly half of forest loss during much of the period.

"Although overall rates of deforestation in Côte d’Ivoire have declined over the last decade, this is partly due to the limited amount of forest remaining," said the non-profit, referring to the country by its French name.

Deforestation is the second-leading cause of climate change after the burning of fossil fuels.