Business Daily The cocoa conundrum
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Nov 26, 2025 In this insightful discussion, Matthew Kenyon, a reporter specializing in cocoa, joins Albert Smith, a bean-to-bar chocolate operator, along with Martin Bron, a former global head of cocoa trading, and Comrade Adiola Adigoke, a leader representing cocoa farmers. They dive deep into the EU's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and its potential impact on cocoa prices and sustainability. The guests explore traceability challenges, the role of consumers, and how regulations may ultimately support or hinder cocoa producers, emphasizing the importance of ethical sourcing in the chocolate industry.
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Europe Is A Chocolate Market With Global Clout
- Europe consumes half the world's chocolate, so EU rules on deforestation will materially affect global cocoa supply chains.
- The EUDR aims to eliminate raw materials linked to deforestation and covers cocoa among other commodities.
Small Traders Already Track Farms — Sometimes
- Albert Smith described working with small producers who already provide farm-level traceability through co-ops and social enterprises.
- He said mapping plantations remains challenging for remote farmers without phones or GPS.
Geolocation Is A Bottleneck For Farmers
- Mapping requires geolocations for plantations, which many remote farmers cannot provide due to lack of phones or infrastructure.
- This creates a practical barrier to complying with EUDR for first-mile producers.