Trade thin as buyers await Ivorian cocoa exports

Trade was thin in Europe's cash cocoa market this week with export flows yet to start from top producer Ivory Coast, while cocoa butter ratios fell again, European cash traders said on Thursday. "It looks as though it may take longer than thought to get large-volume shipments going," one European cocoa trader said.
Ivory Coast shippers have said that cocoa exports will reach normal volumes no sooner than the end of April as authorities iron out new tax and customs procedures, banks reopen and security improves. The first calls by container ships are being made in the country this week.
European industry anyway was apparently well supplied with beans because of large volumes of Ivorian produce smuggled out to neighbouring countries in the past months, traders said. "With Easter production over, industry anyway has a quiet period between late April and June, so we can wait for the shipments to come," one industry executive said.
"The main worry now is the quality of cocoa on the trees in Ivory Coast. We do not know how much this has suffered from neglect during the fighting as migrant workers went home and so much of the population fled to avoid fighting," the executive added. "This could be a serious long-term problem." Some buyers also feared the first cocoa shipments will be of poor quality after an unusually long storage period for the delicate crop during the standstill in exports since January.
"We cannot assess the quality, although beans stored in the main warehouses in ports are probably in a reasonable condition," another trader said. Price ratios for cocoa butter, a key chocolate ingredient, fell this week on large supplies and thin demand. Butter for April/May delivery was quoted on Friday at around 1.25 times nearby London bean contracts, falling from 1.35 last week and well down against 1.45 times London quoted in mid-March. This put European butter at below Asian prices of around 1.30 on Friday. The background was said to be continued strong demand for cocoa powder from the confectionery sector. The cocoa butter also produced when beans were pressed for powder was still difficult to sell because of sluggish demand, traders said.