Indonesia's cocoa bean exports from the main growing island of Sulawesi dropped more than 40 percent to 64,591 tonnes in January-June as bad harvest hit production in the world's third-largest producer, industry data showed on Tuesday.
Indonesia could see full-year output falling to its lowest since at least 2004 at 420,000 tonnes after erratic weather triggered the spread of a deadly fungal disease in Sulawesi. Data from the Sulawesi chapter of the Indonesian Cocoa Association showed cocoa exports in June at 15,232.68 tonnes, down from 25,990.40 in the same month last year, with dealers reporting limited bean arrivals from plantations.
Exports stood at 110,759.57 tonnes in January to June last year. "I don't think the crop will reach a peak. Normally, trucks would queue until 10 o'clock in the evening to unload cocoa at warehouses because there were so many beans then," said a dealer in Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi.
"We are lucky now to exports 500 to 1,000 tonnes of beans a month. We used to exports up to 5,000 tonnes of beans three times a month. But bean counts are steady at 120 to 115," he said.
Bean counts are used to measure quality. A lower bean count indicates good quality beans, and the national standard for bean counts in Indonesia is 110 beans per 100 grams.
Concerns about supply from Indonesia, which accounts for 10 percent of global output, could offer support for New York cocoa futures, which have dropped from a 32-year peak hit in March partly due to the return of peace in top grower Ivory Coast.
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.
The main harvest is underway in Sulawesi, which accounts for about 70 percent of Indonesia's cocoa output, but dealers said the prospect was gloomy after Vascular-streak Dieback (VSD) returned to plantations. Cocoa is also grown in Sumatra and Java. Indonesia has been dealing with pests and diseases for years. Heavy rains in Sulawesi have once again triggered the spread of VSD, a disease that attacks branches, leaves and trunk, eventually killing the trees.