Ivory Coast's ongoing cocoa crisis

Ivory Coast has emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing economies in the aftermath of a 2002-2011 political crisis that included two civil wars. The world's leading cocoa exporter has since drawn the interest of numerous international investors, resulting in an economic increase of around 10 percent in the four years up to 2015, according to World Bank data.

This year, however, plummeting cocoa prices have rocked the West African nation, setting off an unprecedented cocoa crisis. Due to abundant supply but weakening global demand, the international price has fallen by 30 percent since the end of 2015.

Last October, the Ivorian government set the national price for the 2017 harvest at 1,100 CFA Francs ($1.80, 1.65 euros) per kilo. The record high price was based on a count of budding cocoa pods, coupled with projected international demand. But huge countries like China and India haven't caught up as quickly as expected with Europe and North America in their love for chocolate.

The Coffee Cocoa Council says this season saw an overproduction of some 110,000 tons of cocoa. Overproduction, crippling international price reduction and a record-high national fee for farmers has forced many buyers to back out of their contracts. This is because cocoa buyers, who buy their stock a year in advance, faced unexpected and huge losses if they honored the deals.

Additionally, unrest in some factions of Ivory Coast security forces pushed ports to shutdown earlier this year. Port activities in Abidjan and San Pedro were disrupted when paramilitary police officers fired shots into the air, shutting off port access. Months of export stagnation, fleeing buyers and ensuing demonstrations left tons of cocoa piled up in warehouses.

In April, Ivory Coast slashed its 2017 budget due to the tumbling cocoa prices. According to the World Bank, the crop represents 15 percent of Ivory Coast's gross domestic product and more than 50 percent of its export earnings. An estimated six million people, a quarter of the country's population, depend on cocoa for a living.