By May Angel

LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - World Cocoa Foundation president Chris Vincent will leave his post at the end of the year after about five years in the role, the non-profit industry group, whose members represent more than 80% of the global cocoa sector, said on Wednesday.

Vincent's departure, which was flagged to the WCF's board in the summer of last year, is occurring in an orderly fashion that will allow the group to remain focussed on its core goal of driving cocoa sector sustainability, it said.

The WCF brings together some of the world's largest chocolate and cocoa companies like Barry Callebaut BARN.S, Cargill ABNO.UL, Hershey HSY.N, Nestle NESN.S and Mondelez MDLZ.O.

The cocoa sector remains beset by challenges like child labour, farmer poverty and deforestation, and critics say sustainability initiatives driven by the corporate sector have had little impact.

Vincent's departure comes amid extreme turbulence in cocoa, with prices CCCc2 having nearly tripled to record highs in 2024, only to lose 75% of their value since then as demand tumbled in response to lofty prices and as harvests recovered.

(Reporting by May Angel; Editing by Jan Harvey)

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