Ivory Coast cocoa output is running 15 percent over last year, exporters said on Monday, reinforcing hopes the West African country's recent post-election conflict spared its main industry. Some 1,166,560 tonnes of beans arrived from Ivorian plantations to port by June 5 since the start of the season in October, up from 1,009,646 tonnes in the same period a year ago, according to a consensus estimate from exporters.
Ivory Coast, the world's largest supplier of the main ingredient in chocolate, is recovering from a four-month post-election power struggle that killed thousands of people and left its economy in ruins. The crisis halted the country's exports from late January into April, when former leader Laurent Gbagbo was finally arrested by forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, internationally recognised as winner of the November 2010 poll.
Concerns about the Ivorian crop - which accounts for about a third of world supply - drove cocoa futures prices briefly to record highs, but Ivorian officials have since said they expect to stick to a 1.3 million tonne full-season target. Other West African cocoa producers, Ghana and Cameroon, are producing record volumes this season thanks to ideal growing weather and agricultural programmes, helping to pull cocoa prices below their peaks. Ivorian exporters estimated 25,000 tonnes were delivered to the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro during the week-long stretch to June 5, versus 23,289 tonnes during the same week a year ago.
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