The 1937-1938 Gold Coast Cocoa Crisis

The Political Economy of Commercial Stalemate

Bibliographic Data

ID9397264
AuthorsRod Alence (0000-0003-3336-0398, corresponding author)
Year1990
Issue19
Pages77-77
Publication date1990-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Economic History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0145-2258 • E-ISSN: 2163-9108
PublisherUniversity of Wisconsin Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/3601893
OpenAlexW2326116148
LanguageEN
Citations received16

A coalition of Gold Coast farmers, brokers, and chiefs disrupted cocoa export trade during the 1937-1938 season by refusing to sell their produce to the major expatriate trading firms. The cocoa hold up, which was accompanied by a boycott of many European goods, was a response to news that the firms had reached a collusive buying agreement aimed at manipulating producer prices and fixing market shares. Word of the agreement arrived at a time when producer prices were plummeting. As the commercial stalemate dragged on through the harvest season, it became increasingly costly not only for the European firms and African participants in the cocoa sector, but also for the British colonial state. The state depended on external trade for revenue, and cocoa was the backbone of the external sector

Boycott · Business · Colonialism · Economics · Economy · International trade · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Revenue · Stalemate · State (computer science · African history and culture studies · Finance · Law

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