Chocolate statistics begin with cocoa beans, but they also describe a much larger chain: farms, processors, exporters, importers, manufacturers, and consumers. The latest ICCO figures project 4.698 million tonnes of cocoa production worldwide in the 2024/2025 season, while projected grindings total 4.602 million tonnes. Those figures sit alongside long-term historical measures, market estimates, and forecasts for individual countries.
In this article
- Global cocoa production
- Where cocoa is grown
- Grinding, demand, and stocks
- Prices, trade, and the chocolate economy
- Chocolate markets around the world
- United States cocoa import trends
- Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
Global cocoa production
The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) projects global cocoa production at 4.698 million tonnes for 2024/2025. That would be almost 8% higher than the previous season. The same ICCO report projects a cocoa surplus of 49,000 tonnes, although production and demand are separate measures: beans must still be processed, traded, and incorporated into chocolate products.
Africa is projected to produce 3.253 million tonnes in 2024/2025, equal to 69.2% of the world total. The Americas are projected to produce 1.15 million tonnes, an increase of 17%, while Asia and Oceania are projected to produce 298,000 tonnes.
The leading country-level projections from the ICCO Annual Report 2024/2025 include:
- Côte d’Ivoire: 1.681 million tonnes, with output projected to rise by 0.4%.
- Ghana: 600,000 tonnes, with output projected to rise by 34%.
- Ecuador: 570,000 tonnes, with output projected to rise by 36%.
- Nigeria: 330,000 tonnes.
- Cameroon: 310,000 tonnes.
- Indonesia: 200,000 tonnes.
- Brazil: 190,000 tonnes.
- Peru: 165,000 tonnes.
- Colombia: 75,000 tonnes.
- Dominican Republic: 72,000 tonnes.
- Papua New Guinea: 45,000 tonnes.
- Malaysia: 300 tonnes.
These are projections for the 2024/2025 season, not final harvest totals. A projection can change as weather, disease, farm conditions, logistics, and market conditions develop.
Where cocoa is grown
The FAO Chocolate Stats infographic gives a useful longer-period comparison. Average world cocoa bean production was 4.6 million tonnes per year worldwide across 1993–2013. Africa accounted for 66% of that average, Asia for 18%, the Americas for 15%, and Oceania for 1%.
The regional shares in the historical FAO measure and the newer ICCO projection are not directly interchangeable. The first describes an average over 1993–2013; the second describes the projected 2024/2025 season. Read together, they show Africa’s continuing central role in cocoa production without treating different measurement periods as one series.
The FAO infographic recorded Côte d’Ivoire at 1.3 million tonnes of cocoa beans in 2013. That historical figure is distinct from the ICCO’s 1.681-million-tonne projection for Côte d’Ivoire in 2024/2025 and should not be read as a verified year-over-year comparison.
The regional picture from the ICCO projection is compactly summarized below.
| Region | 2024/2025 projected cocoa production | Additional measure |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 3.253 million tonnes | 69.2% of global projection |
| Americas | 1.15 million tonnes | Up 17% |
| Asia and Oceania | 298,000 tonnes | Regional projection |
| World | 4.698 million tonnes | Up almost 8% from prior season |
Grinding, demand, and stocks
Grinding measures cocoa beans processed into ingredients used by the chocolate and food industries. The ICCO projects global grindings of 4.602 million tonnes for 2024/2025. It also projects global cocoa demand to contract by 209,000 tonnes.
Projected grindings vary by region:
- Europe: 1.650 million tonnes, down 5%.
- Asia and Oceania: 998,000 tonnes, down by more than 9%.
- Africa: 1.051 million tonnes, down 2%.
- The Americas: 903,000 tonnes, up by 11,000 tonnes.
Country-level ICCO estimates and projections add more detail. U.S. grindings are estimated at 315,000 tonnes. Côte d’Ivoire’s grindings are expected to decrease by 8% to 695,000 tonnes. Indonesia’s projected grindings are 354,000 tonnes, while Malaysia’s are projected at 300,000 tonnes.
Stocks provide another view of supply. Minimum estimated world cocoa bean stocks stood at 1.041 million tonnes in 2023/2024, according to the ICCO Annual Report 2024/2025. The ICCO says that minimum estimate represented 80% of its model-based calculation. Because one figure is a minimum estimate and the other is a model-based calculation, they describe different levels of stock measurement rather than two identical inventories.
The ICCO was founded in 1973. Its membership includes 23 cocoa-exporting countries and 29 cocoa-importing countries, giving the organization a broad institutional view of the international cocoa market.
Prices, trade, and the chocolate economy
The ICCO indicator price averaged USD 6,612 per tonne in the 2024/2025 reporting period. The report states that this was about 39% higher than the previous year. This is an indicator price for cocoa, not a retail price for a chocolate bar, so it should not be used as a direct measure of what shoppers pay in stores.
USDA ERS reported that global cocoa bean prices peaked at USD 10,412 per metric ton in December 2024. The same USDA ERS chart note described a 310% increase over the period covered by its analysis. The December peak and the ICCO average refer to different measures and periods: one is a monthly peak, while the other is an average indicator price for the ICCO reporting period.
The FAO Chocolate Stats infographic recorded Germany’s chocolate-product exports at USD 3.8 billion in 2011. It also stated that the top 10 chocolate-product exporters accounted for 70% of total exports, while the top 10 importers accounted for 53% of total imports. These are historical trade-concentration figures from the infographic, not current totals.
Older value-chain statistics illustrate how revenue can be distributed. In 2017, cocoa beans were exported at a combined value of USD 8.6 billion, and the chocolate industry accounted for 43% of all cocoa consumption. The chocolate industry’s retail market value was USD 106.2 billion in 2017. FAO also reported that cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana earned only 3% to 6% of chocolate bars’ retail market value. These 2017 figures describe that year’s value chain and do not establish current farmer earnings or current retail value.
Chocolate markets around the world
South Korea’s chocolate market provides a recent country example. USDA’s Korea Chocolate Market Brief reported chocolate sales of USD 578 million in 2023. Chocolate imports totaled USD 356 million in the same year, and the United States held 21% of Korea’s chocolate import market. U.S. chocolate exports to Korea were about USD 74 million in 2023.
Korea’s chocolate imports had a five-year compound annual growth rate of 2.5% from 2018–2022. Imports then fell by roughly 2% in 2023. The growth rate covers a multi-year period, while the decline describes one later year, so they should be read as separate indicators rather than combined into one trend calculation.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) offers a regional view of snacks and confectionery. USDA’s GCC Snacks & Sweets in the GCC Region report states that chocolate confectionery comprised 31.3% of GCC snacks and confectionery consumption by value. GCC chocolate imports were valued at USD 1.1 billion, compared with USD 1.2 billion for baked snack imports and USD 254 million for sugar confectionery imports.
Global snacks and confectionery exports to the GCC region totaled USD 2.9 billion in 2019. Those exports rose by 12% from 2015 to 2019. The 2019 total and 2015–2019 change are historical GCC trade measures, not forecasts for today’s market.
United States cocoa import trends
USDA ERS reported that U.S. cocoa bean imports averaged about 425,000 metric tons annually from 2000 to 2022. Imports fell by 22% in 2023 and by another 26% in 2024, reaching 198,000 metric tons in 2024.
| U.S. cocoa import measure | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Annual average, 2000–2022 | About 425,000 metric tons |
| Change in 2023 | Down 22% |
| Change in 2024 | Down 26% |
| 2024 imports | 198,000 metric tons |
The average for 2000–2022 is a long-run baseline, while 198,000 metric tons is a specific 2024 total. The figures show that the 2024 level was below the earlier average, but the supplied data does not identify every cause of the decline.
Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana remain especially important to global cocoa supply. USDA ERS stated that the two countries together accounted for 61% of world cocoa bean production in 2023. FAO reported that Côte d’Ivoire aims to process 80% of its cocoa beans locally by 2030. That is a stated target, not a completed result.
USDA’s Côte d’Ivoire Cocoa Sector Overview 2025 gives a sequence of marketing-year figures: production was 2.3 million metric tons in MY 2022/2023, 1.76 million metric tons in MY 2023/2024, and was forecast at 1.8 million metric tons for MY 2024/2025. The marketing-year labels matter because they are not calendar-year totals.
USDA’s Ghana Cocoa Sector Overview 2025 expected Ghana’s MY 2024/2025 cocoa bean production to climb to 700,000 metric tons, compared with 531,000 metric tons in MY 2023/2024. Ghana’s cocoa bean exports were projected at 520,000 metric tons, which was 55% above the preceding year’s estimate of 336,000 metric tons.
Together, these figures distinguish production from exports and forecasts from reported or estimated historical values. They also show why chocolate statistics are best read with their source, geography, unit, and measurement period attached to every number.