Ecuador is now the world's second-biggest cocoa bean exporter
Cocoa bean exports, thousand tonnes, 2015–2024. Ghana's and Nigeria's 2024 figures are not official national data.
- 1. Brazil has all but caught the US in farm exports
- 2. Brazil exports more chicken than the US and EU combined
- 3. India now ships over a third of world rice exports
- 4. Russia now exports twice as much wheat as the US
- 5. Egypt exports more fresh oranges than any other country
- 6. China buys three in ten of the world's beef imports
- 7. Farmed seafood now outweighs the wild catch
- 8. Spanish olive oil mill prices are back at 2021 levels
- 9. Ukraine sells a fifth less grain than before the war
- 10. Brazil overtook the US as the world's top cotton exporter
- 11. Laos now mines more potash than Israel or Jordan
- 12. India now grows more rice than China
- 13. Côte d'Ivoire grows more cashews than India
- 14. Indonesia set to use more palm oil than it exports
- 15. Mato Grosso grows more soy than China and India combined
- 16. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia
- 17. Vietnam now drinks more coffee than Russia
- 18. Nigeria now eats more rice than Japan
- 19. Ecuador is now the world's second-biggest cocoa bean exporter
Ecuador's cocoa bean exports in 2024, up from 236 kt in 2015, passing Ghana's 320 kt.
Ghana's exports from their 2018 peak of 844 kt to an unofficial 320 kt in 2024. Nigeria passed it too.
Ghana's place in 2024, behind Côte d'Ivoire (1.06 Mt), Ecuador and Nigeria. The cocoa trade is no longer just West Africa's.
the numbers & method
| Year | Ecuador (kt) | Ghana (kt) | Nigeria (kt) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 236 | 573 | 200 |
| 2016 | 227 | 581 | 228 |
| 2017 | 285 | 573 | 293 |
| 2018 | 294 | 844 | 295 |
| 2019 | 271 | 644 | 301 |
| 2020 | 323 | 527 | 217 |
| 2021 | 330 | 519 | 345 |
| 2022 | 392 | 456 | 260 |
| 2023 | 363 | 433 | 329 |
| 2024 | 398 | 320 | 377 |
Claim types Fact · Estimate · Interpretation
FAOSTAT TCL (crops and livestock products trade), item 661 cocoa beans, element export quantity (tonnes), FAOSTAT release of 24 Jul 2026, read from the FAOSTAT API (faostatservices.fao.org) through the progrss data vault. Tonnes, Ecuador / Ghana / Nigeria: 2015 236,072 / 572,624 / 200,000; 2018 294,063 / 843,641 / 294,701; 2023 362,726 / 433,288 / 329,105; 2024 398,427 / 320,152 / 377,182. Côte d'Ivoire 2024: 1,059,795; Cameroon 238,869; world 3,702,682 (FAO estimate). FAO flags: Ecuador official in every year; Ghana 2015, 2020 and 2024 and every Nigeria year are figures from international organisations (flag X) or, for Nigeria 2015, an FAO estimate (flag E), labelled Estimate. Ecuador never exported more than Ghana in any year from 2000 to 2023 (closest gap 2010: 116 kt vs 281 kt); 2018 (844 kt) was Ghana's highest since 2000; from 2019 (644 kt) the fall is 50%. The crossing rests on Ghana's weak 2024; a Ghana recovery could reverse it. Exports of raw beans only: Ghana grinds part of its crop at home, and FAOSTAT production for 2024 still puts Ghana (530,000 t) ahead of Ecuador (403,699 t). The Netherlands and Belgium re-export beans (216 kt and 199 kt in 2024) and are not on the chart. Values shown in thousand tonnes, rounded. 'No longer just West Africa's' is a progrss interpretation. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
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