Vietnam’s cocoa receives “fine flavour” designation from Int’l Cocoa organisation
Viet Nam has become the second Asian country to achieve a fine flavour cocoa designation from the International Cocoa Organisation. Forty per cent of the country’s cocoa exports have received this designation. Indonesia was the first Asian country to receive the recognition in 2011, but it applied to only 1 per cent of that country’s cocoa exports. ICCO uses many criteria to assess the quality of fine flavour cocoa. Among them are the genetic origin of the planting material, morphological characteristics of the plant, flavour characteristics of the cocoa beans, chemical characteristics of the beans and colour of the beans and nibs. Other criteria include the degree of fermentation, drying, acidity, off-flavours, percentage of internal mould, insect infestation, and percentage of impurities. Twenty-three countries are included on ICCO’s list of producing countries exporting exclusively FFC or partially FFC beans. The world cocoa market distinguishes between two broad categories of cocoa beans – “fine flavour” cocoa beans, and “bulk” or “ordinary” cocoa beans. According to ICCO, fine flavour cocoa accounts for about 6 per cent of global cocoa exports and their prices are always 5-10 per cent higher than the floor price at the London and New York markets.
