Home > The FCC > History of the AFCC

History of the AFCC

The Association Française du Commerce des Cacaos (AFCC) was founded in May 1935.

The main objective of the Founding Members was to establish a sole basis for transactions in French colonial cocoabeans.

Branches of the Association were founded in Paris, Le Havre, Bordeaux and Marseilles. Each branch was divided in 3 sections:

  • Trade
  • Importers
  • Brokers

A draft of the first AFCC no. 1 contract (CIF net delivered weights) was adopted together with the first Arbitration Rules in December 1935.

The initial contract experienced many amendments, notably in 1951, 1953, 1962, 1977 and 1990. The version of 01.01.2000 marked the result of the wish expressed by the AFCC. and the CAL. to start a harmonisation of the Market and Contract Rules of the two Associations. This first harmonisation set the basis of the present merger of the C.A.L. and the FCC.

In 1951, the AFCC, conscious of the necessity to increase the impact of the contract and its Arbitration Chamber, opened the door to foreign members, officially called ‘Membres Correspondants’.

In 1954, a (new) Section ‘Transformateurs’ was created.

But the Association started really to expand in 1985/86, when, after having consulted the Ivorian and Cameroon authorities and, in close co-operation with the local exporters, new statutes were adopted permitting shippers from origin to integrate into the decision centers of the AFCC.

In 1986 the GEPEX started to be represented on the Comité Directeur as a voting member.

As from 1990, the CAL, the Associazione Industrie Dolciarie Italiane and the Verein in Hamburg had each an observer at the meetings of the Comité Directeur, who became fully qualified voting members in 1994, a ‘last minute’ representative of the NCV was granted an equal qualification at the same time.

In 1999 the Comité Directeur coopted a representative of CAOBISCO as a voting member of the Comité Directeur.

The next step was the broadening of the Comité Directeur with an increasing number of foreign members. In 1999, when, to illustrate their open-mindedness, the Members of the AFCC unanimously adopted the change of the name of the Association into ‘Fédération du Commerce des Cacaos’, the Comité Directeur was made up by 1 German, 2 English, 1 Italian, 2 Ivorian, 1 Dutch, 1 Swiss and 9 French Members.

In the same way, in order to follow up the logistic developments experienced by the Trade in the years ’80 and ’90, the AFCC elaborated other contracts:

  • Contract no. 2 - FOB shipping weights.
  • Contract no. 3 - FOB delivered weights.
  • Contract no. 4 - CIF option arrival/delivery.
  • Contract no. 5 - CIF bulk container, quality on departure.
  • Contract no. 6 - CIF bulk container, quality on arrival.
  • Contract no. 7 - CIF megabulk, quality on departure.