World
Cocoa beans rot and West African farmers seek other options after commodity crash
KONA, Ghana (AP) — Manu Yaw Fofie was born into the cocoa farming business, but the land bequeathed to him has become more of a burden than a blessing. A sharp fall in cocoa prices over the past year has left beans rotting in some West African warehouses, while global chocolate makers scramble for supplies and consumers seek their fix.
With less money coming in, the 52-year-old Fofie in Ghana has taken the desperate step of giving part of his land to illegal sand miners, a lucrative practice driven by high construction demand since sand is used in concrete.
The cost is severe, however: the sand mining makes the land infertile.
Aware of the danger, Fofie said he had been left with little choice. He said annual cocoa bean yields has been declining over the years, from the past heyday of 300 bags to 50 bags in 2025, affected by factors including climate change.
Fofie is one of many cocoa farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast — countries responsible for nearly 70% of the global cocoa bean supply — who are putting their land for other uses after the price of the once high-flying commodity crashed.
Ivory Coast, the world’s leading cocoa producer, had to purchase an excess supply of cocoa beans from farmers in January and this week slashed the price by more than half for 2026.
While a global commodity like cocoa beans is prone to occasional crisis, Ghanaian authorities were not prepared for one at this scale, said Edward Karaweh, former general secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union.
“Preparation allows you to mitigate the crisis. It is not that you prevent the crisis altogether,” Karaweh said.
Cocoa futures soared, then crashed
Hundreds of thousands of farmers in West Africa rely on cocoa farming for a living. In Ivory Coast, cocoa bean exports make up 40% of the total export revenue. In neighboring Ghana, they make up nearly 15%.
Government regulators set a fixed price for the cocoa bean at the beginning of every planting season, and the majority of the beans are sold through government-licensed parties to protect farmers from price fluctuations on the international market.
However, after a surge in cocoa futures in 2024 on international markets, the futures — a contract to buy a commodity at an agreed-upon price on a future date — reached more than $12,000 per metric ton, the highest in decades. Then it crashed to around $4,000 as supply outstripped demand.
The downturn in price meant global traders would run at a loss if they purchased cocoa beans from the two African countries.
That led to a mounting stockpile of rotting cocoa beans in warehouses, while farmers who already sold their stocks to governments have not been paid for months.
With structural issues, farmers said they missed out on benefiting from the original surge. The whiplash in prices made some decide enough was enough.
Climate also plays a role
Walking through his cocoa trees in Ivory Coast, François N’Gbin pointed to blackened, dried-up pods caused by disease and a lack of rain.
He said he also has given up part of his land, for a fee, to illegal gold miners, then obtained a mining license out of fear of the authorities.
The mining area, partly filled with murky, yellowish water, covers at least 1,000 square meters (1,200 square yards) on his farm.
“Today, gold is more profitable than cocoa,” he said. “We get 1,500 CFA francs ($2.67) per gram of gold, and we’re about to negotiate an increase.”
Many other farmers are finding other uses for their farms, including leasing them to illegal gold miners, according to Moussa Koné, president of the Ivorian cocoa farmers’ union.
“Cocoa is not selling, but farmers still need money to feed their families,” he said.
Governments race to find solutions
Ghana has initiated efforts to loosen regulations on price controls, and in January slashed its fixed price for cocoa beans by 28% to 41,392 cedis ($3,881) per metric ton, in an attempt to make the beans more accessible to buyers.
This week, Ivory Coast also slashed the price paid to cocoa farmers by more than half to 1,200 CFA ($2.13) per kilogram ($0.97 per pound) for 2026.
Farmers say the price cut has left their profit margin very slim when they factor in the costs of production.
“Accepting the current price means my son will have to drop out of school,” said Mercy Amponsah, a 50-year-old cocoa farmer in Ghana. Shee was among the farmers who visited the capital, Accra, in January to protest the price cut.
Some cocoa producers elsewhere in the world — South America and Asia — have improved their supply but West Africa still makes up the bulk of production.
Farmers like Fofie say they must find other ways to survive, however.
“If I keep this cocoa farm for the next 10 years, I would die a poor man,” he said.
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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.
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For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse
The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
World
Stocks fall and oil prices gain after Trump warns the Iran ‘clock is ticking’
HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks mostly retreated and oil prices jumped on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran that the “clock is ticking” as U.S.-Iran negotiations over a permanent end to the war stall.
U.S. futures fell and markets in Japan and South Korea pulled further back from their records. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1% to 60,815.95, a decline led by technology-related stocks. It reached all-time intraday high levels last week above 63,000.
The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond surged to as high as 2.8%, its highest level since the late 1990s, part of a shift toward higher yields as the Bank of Japan gradually raises interest rates and higher energy costs raise expectations of rising inflation. That’s up from around 2.55% just one week ago.
Seoul’s Kospi climbed 0.3% to 7,516.04 after trading lower earlier in the day. It crossed the 8,000 mark for the first time on Friday, supported by buying of technology shares driven by the boom in artificial intelligence, but later declined partly on profit-taking by investors.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.4% to 25,596.68. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% lower to 4,131.53, after China reported weaker-than-expected retail data for April.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.5% to 8,505.30.
Taiwan’s Taiex dropped 0.7%, while India’s Sensex fell 0.1%.
Oil prices rose after Trump warned Iran in a social media post that “the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them” following a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump has set deadlines for Iran and then backed off, so investors have remained cautious about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and how it is impacting global energy flows, including oil and gas. The strait is still mostly closed, and the U.S. has also imposed its own sea blockade on Iranian ports since last month.
A drone strike over the weekend on a United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power plant added to worries over a potential escalation in the conflict.
Brent crude, the international standard, gained 0.7% to $110.02 per barrel. It was trading at roughly $70 a barrel in late February before the start of the Iran war. Benchmark U.S. crude was trading 0.8% higher to $106.31 per barrel.
“Re-escalation risks are increasing,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a research note. While there has also been a pick up on shipping activities over the past week around the strait, they said, “this can change quickly.”
The pair also noted that the oil market was reacting to the lack of tangible results on the Iran war after last week’s widely-watched summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, even as the White House said both the U.S. and China had agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open.
U.S. officials had hoped that Beijing could use its influence, given its economic ties with Iran, to help broker a peace agreement and reopen the strait. Trump said last week in an interview that Xi told him China “would like to be of help” in negotiating an end to the war. So far it’s been unclear how Beijing might do that.
The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury was at around 4.60%, up from 4.47% last Thursday and sharply higher than the nearly 4% level it was holding at before the Iran war.
On Friday, the benchmark S&P 500 dropped 1.2% from the record it set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 1.5%.
In other dealings early Monday, the U.S. dollar rose to 158.86 Japanese yen from 158.62 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1635, up from $1.1622.
World
Canada confirms hantavirus case linked to cruise ship outbreak that has killed three passengers
Hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship sparks concern as passengers return to US
Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel discusses the Hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, where three deaths occurred. Siegel explains that while human-to-human spread is rare, it’s not impossible. The segment highlights the return of passengers to the U.S. from locations like Tenerife and Praia, raising new public health concerns and emphasizing the need for containment.
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Canadian health officials on Sunday confirmed that one of four Canadians who returned from the MV Hondius cruise ship, the subject of an international Andes hantavirus outbreak, tested positive for hantavirus. Three people connected to the outbreak have died.
The Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed the positive test after British Columbia’s top public health officer previously described the case as a “presumptive positive.”
“One individual’s sample was confirmed positive for hantavirus,” the agency said in a statement.
Officials said additional testing will be conducted at a national laboratory. It was not immediately clear whether that testing was for confirmation, strain characterization or another purpose.
CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER DESCRIBES UNCERTAINTY AFTER 3 DEATHS AMID HANTAVIRUS PROBE
Experts say cruise outbreaks get more attention due to public reporting rules, but many travelers still plan to sail as booked. (Myloupe/Universal Images Group)
The development comes as global health officials continue monitoring the rare hantavirus outbreak tied to the MV Hondius, which has sickened multiple passengers.
As of May 13, the World Health Organization said 11 cases had been identified in connection with the cruise outbreak, including eight confirmed cases, two probable cases and one inconclusive case. Those figures included three deaths. The Associated Press later reported that the Canadian confirmation brought the number of people from the ship who had tested positive to 10.
Canadian health officials said four Canadians returned home from the MV Hondius, though only one has tested positive for the virus.
RARE HANTAVIRUS HUMAN-TO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION SUSPECTED ON LUXURY CRUISE SHIP WHERE 3 HAVE DIED
The rare Andes virus, which was linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, is the only known hantavirus strain that has the capability to spread from person to person, usually through prolonged close contact. (Andres Gutierrez/Anadolu)
The confirmed patient and a traveling companion — identified as a Yukon couple in their 70s — returned from the cruise together. The companion later tested negative, officials said.
A third person in their 70s from Vancouver Island remains in isolation, along with a British Columbia resident in their 50s.
So far, no confirmed U.S. cases tied to the cruise ship have been reported, though WHO said as of May 13 that one U.S.-repatriated passenger had inconclusive laboratory results and was undergoing retesting.
HANTAVIRUS DEATHS ON CRUISE SHIP HIGHLIGHT DANGERS OF RODENT-BORNE DISEASE
Pictured is the MV Hondius, the cruise ship tied to a hantavirus outbreak after a stop in Argentina that left three passengers dead. (Europa Press Canarias via Getty Images)
Last week, however, health officials in Ontario County, New York, announced they were investigating a suspected locally acquired hantavirus case unrelated to the cruise ship.
The Ontario County Public Health Department said there was no risk to the general public. Officials also said the strain typically seen in the United States is not known to spread from person to person.
The outbreak linked to the MV Hondius began after the Dutch cruise ship, carrying 147 passengers and crew members, departed Argentina on April 1 for a South Atlantic voyage.
TRAPPED CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER SHARES UPDATE ON CLEANLINESS OF SHIP AMID DEADLY HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK
The outbreak has prompted heightened precautions internationally, including in the Netherlands, where Radboud University Medical Center quarantined 12 staff members after officials said a hantavirus patient’s blood and urine were not handled under the strictest protocols recommended for the virus strain.
The outbreak has also sparked comparisons to the coronavirus pandemic. However, Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel previously told Fox News Digital there is “no comparison.”
He noted hantavirus is difficult to spread.
Passengers evacuated from the hantavirus-stricken Hondius cruise ship walk with their belongings after disembarking at Eindhoven Air Base, Netherlands, on May 12. (Piroschka van de Wouw)
“It’s not airborne … in terms of respiratory droplets hanging in the air,” he said. “It’s very difficult to transmit.”
While coronavirus “moved in the direction of humans in a significant way,” hantavirus has not, except for “very rare” cases of human-to-human transmission, he added.
The World Health Organization has assessed the risk to the global population as low, while noting that current evidence suggests subsequent human-to-human transmission may have occurred on board. Andes virus is the only hantavirus known to have documented person-to-person transmission, though such spread is considered rare.
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Siegel also noted hantavirus cases have been reported in the United States for decades, though they remain “very rare.”
Fox News Digital’s Brittany Miller and Angelica Stabile, along with The Associated Press, contributed to this report.
World
Moment of collision between two Navy jets at Idaho air show
Two US Navy jets collided during an air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, sending both aircraft crashing to the ground in front of spectators. All four crew members ejected safely before impact.
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