Ivory Coast says has used 'a large part' of cocoa stabilisation funds

Ivory Coast has expended "a large part" of its stabilisation funds in order to maintain cocoa farmers' prices for the current main crop, amid a sharp drop in world prices, the government's spokesman said on Wednesday. After years of steadily rising prices, cocoa futures have plunged since last September, falling to near 10-year lows earlier this month and forcing the Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC) marketing board to intervene.
"To confront this drop, the Council had to draw upon a large part of the stabilisation fund resources ... That allowed us to maintain the farmer price throughout the 2016/17 main crop," Bruno Kone said following a cabinet meeting. The world's top cocoa producer maintains two funds - one which held 170 billion CFA francs ($278 million) and another deposited at the West African regional central bank that contained 70 billion CFA francs in December, he said.