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Prabowo urges cacao rejuvenation, replanting amid high prices

Cocoa prices have surged significantly because of disease outbreaks in key producing regions in Latin America and Africa.

Deni Ghifari (The Jakarta Post)

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Mon, July 21, 2025 Published on Jul. 21, 2025 Published on 2025-07-21T14:50:20+07:00

A SCAK Kivu worker holds cacao pods on Nov. 15, 2016, at the company's processing plant in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo. (AFP/Eduardo Soteras)

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resident Prabowo Subianto is seeking to push cacao replanting and rejuvenation efforts, as the commodity has seen high global prices since early last year because of crop failures in major producing countries.

He made the statement on Sunday after visiting former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s residence in Surakarta, Central Java, noting that cacao replanting was among the topics they discussed.

“Global cocoa prices are very high, and many are expecting cocoa from us. We have to begin new replanting efforts soon, new rejuvenations; these we will carry out,” Prabowo said.

He explained that the significant price surge was caused by disease outbreaks in key producer regions in Latin America and Africa.

Data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) shows that exports of raw cacao and processed cocoa more than doubled to US$2.65 billion in 2024, up from $1.2 billion the previous year.

From January to May this year, the country shipped $1.6 billion worth of cocoa, marking a 140 percent increase from the same period last year and continuing the commodity’s upward trend.