By Baudelaire Mieu

Dec 24, 2025 (Bloomberg) –French crop trader Sucres et Denrées SA, a major cocoa buyer, has closed its operations in Ivory Coast’s port of San Pedro, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Ivory Coast is the world’s top grower of the crop and many cocoa traders have operations in San Pedro, which is close to key growing regions. Sucden has operations both there and in Abidjan, the commercial hub, from which it can purchase cocoa beans and sell them abroad.

The closure of the San Pedro center comes at the peak of the West African nation’s main harvest. Thomas Roche, the managing director of the company’s Ivorian unit, declined to comment. Sucden’s headquarters in Paris didn’t respond to phone calls and an email seeking comment.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the center is being closed, but Ivory Coast cocoa farmers and exporters have faced a turbulent start to the season. International prices, which surged to an all-time high a year ago, have halved in 2025 as harvests improve and consumers cut back on expensive chocolate.

That caused ports in the nation to become clogged with truckloads of cocoa in recent weeks, as middlemen rush to find buyers amid the downturn. The government also recently permitted the cocoa industry regulator to buy about 200,000 tons of beans from farmers — a rare move — as local exporters were left saddled with losses.

Amid the volatility in the market, Sucden’s head of cocoa left the commodities trader earlier this year. Maurice Varsano, son of the company’s chief executive officer, was later named head of the Paris cocoa unit.

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.