What is the Combined Cocoa Ratio?

The Combined Cocoa Ratio is the combined sales price for cocoa butter and cocoa powder
relative to the cocoa bean price.
The formula is:
price of cocoa butter
price of cocoa powder
Combined Cocoa Ratio = ___________________ + ____________________
price of cocoa beans

price of cocoa beans

For cocoa processors, profitability depends on the ratio between input costs (price of cocoa
beans) and output prices (price of cocoa butter and powder).
A simple example shows the interaction between the different variables:
the price for cocoa beans goes up (driven by higher demand (while supply level remains constant), speculation and/or bad harvests), but the price of cocoa powder goes up less as a result
of economic recession as a consequence, the combined ratio will fall.