Cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast reached 1,199,893 tonnes between the start of the 2003/04 (Oct-Sept) campaign and May 16, official data from the Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) showed on Friday.
That compared with 1,215,115 tonnes delivered to ports during the same period of the 2002/03 season, according to official BCC data.
Buyers and producers said the mid-crop was hit by smuggling to neighbouring Guinea and Burkina Faso as well as by some industry players holding beans, hoping for a rise in the price they could command at the ports of San Pedro and Abidjan.
The figures point to a strong 2003/04 main crop (Oct-March) in the world's top cocoa producer despite exporters' concerns at the beginning of the current campaign.
In the 2002/03 season, at the height of a civil war that left Ivory Coast split between a rebel-held north and government-controlled south, the country produced a near-record harvest of 1.36 million tonnes.
Comments
Comments are closed.