Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached around 1,332,000 tonnes by July 17, surging ahead of the previous season's arrivals by 24 percent, exporters estimated on Monday. The figure compared with 1,074,304 tonnes in the same period of the previous season.
The world's top cocoa producer has already beaten its target for the 2010/11 season of 1.3 million tonnes and by the close on September 30 it may well have exceeded it by tens of thousands of tonnes, thanks to a bumper crop linked to favourable weather.
That's despite a violent political crisis that tipped the country back into war and shut down exports for three months. Exporters estimated around 22,000 tonnes of beans were delivered to the West African state's two ports between July 11 to July 17, up from 7,727 tonnes in the same week a year ago.
"I think it's inevitable that this harvest will exceed 1.5 million tonnes for the first time," said the director of a European exporter in Abidjan. "Next season is expected to fall again, though."
Ivory Coast is witnessing a bumper cocoa crop this year, thanks to good rains that boosted productivity on the trees and arrivals have surged ahead of last season's.
"No one imagined that we would be seeing such volumes this season, especially with all the problems we had. It's been a big surprise," said the director of an Abidjan-based exporter. He said quality was improving compared to recent weeks. Chaos in the industry because of the crisis meant a number of farmers were unable to dry beans properly.
"Last week the quality of beans started improving. It's better than in previous weeks, anyway. They are better dried and better fermented," the director said.
According to the latest available figures at the end of last month, Ivory Coast had shipped half of the roughly 470,000 tonnes of cocoa that had been blocked at the top growers ports by a post election conflict until it ended in April.
Most of the cocoa in stock has retained its quality, with little mould, as more arrivals flood in.
Less favourable weather in West Africa and a return to the long-term decline in Ivory Coast production are expected to switch the global cocoa market into deficit in 2011/12, a Reuters poll showed on Monday. In the meantime, arrivals this season in the world's top cocoa grower continue to roar ahead.
"The figures speak for themselves. They show that production has been exceptional," said an Abidjan-based exporter. "The only danger with that is that next season will be less good because of the biological cycle. The trees tend to 'rest' after producing like this.
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