ICCO chooses Bali as location for next World Cocoa Conference

The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) has announced that its fifth edition of the World Cocoa Conference​ will be held in Bali, Indonesia from 20-23 September 2020.

Over 1,000 stakeholders from all over the world are expected to attend what has become the largest gathering in the cocoa and chocolate sector.

Cocoa value chain

The World Cocoa Conference will bring together actors from every part of the cocoa value chain, including farmers, cooperatives and governments from producing and consuming countries, traders, grinders, processors and chocolate manufacturers, along with representatives of civil society, logistics and financial services for the sector, gathering for the first time in Asia to discuss and define solutions for the sustainability of the cocoa value chain.

Backed by the Government of Indonesia, the biennial event will focus on the Asian cocoa market and particularly the significant production and processing sector of the host country.

Organizers said they expect to announce the full program in the coming months, “but we can already foresee that with the pressing issue of low cocoa prices currently at the heart of discussions in the sector, topics such as value addition and value distribution along the cocoa value chain will be central to the conference​,” they said in a statement.

The ICCO is an intergovernmental body responsible for the sustainable development of the cocoa value chain with 52 Members including 22 cocoa exporting countries and 30 cocoa importing countries.