News Bites

The 2016 World Cocoa Conference (WCC) will be held on 22-25 May in Bávaro, the Dominican Republic. Established and managed by the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), this is the leading event for the global cocoa sector, bringing together the most influential stakeholders and industry leaders from across the complete cocoa value chain.

Olam Cocoa is proud to be the title sponsor for the third biennial WCC conference and we will be sending a 10 member delegation to the Dominican Republic from across our worldwide operations. This will include Olam Cocoa team members from Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ghana, Spain, UK and USA, and we invite fellow attendees to visit us during the event at Stand 35 in the conference exhibition area, adjacent to the entrance of the Punta Cana room.

On Monday, 23^rd May at 17:00 (local time), Mr. Simon Brayn-Smith, Director of Cocoa Sustainability from Olam Cocoa’s headquarters in London, UK, will join partner/competitor contemporaries on the panel discussion Road to Sustainability: Initiatives by the Industry – Scaling Impact through Alignment and Partnerships, which will be moderated by Mr. Omer Gatien Maledy, Executive Secretary of the Interprofessional Cocoa and Coffee Council (CICC), Cameroon, and introduced by Mr. Barry Parkin, Chairman of the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF).

During the 09:00 (local time) panel addressing ‘Outlook for Cocoa Supply Around the World’ on Tuesday, 24^th May, Mr. Frédéric Wenger, Olam Cocoa’s Head of Research and based out of our Nyon, Switzerland office will present on the question of ‘Asia production: can we still be optimistic?’ This session will be moderated by Mr. Laurent Pipitone, Director of the Economics and Statistics Division, ICCO.

The aim of the WCC is to agree actions that ensure a socially and environmentally sustainable and prosperous future for all cocoa value chain stakeholders. Themes for the 2016 conference will be increasing farmer incomes, ensuring sustainable demand, global trade outlook, improving farming methods, and supporting an efficient cocoa trade. Attendees will share their experiences on projects dedicated to improving cocoa farming and cocoa farmer livelihoods, with presentations on revitalising cocoa growing communities and incentivising the next generation of cocoa farmers at the fore of the agenda.

With over 1,500 attendees from government agencies, cocoa trading companies, cocoa processors, trade logistics companies, finance and insurance partners, and chocolate manufacturers, as well as suppliers of agricultural inputs and processing technology, this is one of the major international forums for bringing together participants from both producing and consuming countries to examine and discuss industry issues and shape the future of the cocoa sector.