Cocoa farmgate prices in Ivory Coast extended losses last week amid soft demand from local grinders and exporters, triggering a round of panic selling by growers. The fall in prices to around 550 CFA francs ($1.09) per kilogram from over 700 CFA francs at the start of the season has already revived smuggling operations to Ghana, where prices are stabilised by the government.
"Prices have done nothing but fall in the past month," said Aka Marcel, a farmer in the centre-west region of Daloa, where a quarter of the nation's output is grown. "Almost all the farmers are selling off now before prices drop any further."