Talks between government and industry over the details of Ivory Coast's cocoa reform disrupted trade on Europe's cash cocoa market to some extent this week, as the world's top producer neared the end of its main crop, dealers said on Friday. "There are still some commercial issues. The Ivory Coast situation is taking up a lot of time for people," said a European dealer.
Last week the Ivory Coast launched a reform of its cocoa sector aimed at guaranteeing minimum prices for the hundreds of thousands of farmers whose livelihoods depend on it. At the same time arrivals have been slowing as Ivory Coast reaches a seasonal lull between exports of its main crop and mid crop.
"I don't get the feeling there is a huge amount of trade going on, they're at the end of their crop," said a second European dealer. "To find good quality Ivorian cocoa is difficult." Ivory Coast differentials were about 85 pounds ($130) over London nearby cocoa futures contracts, up from 80 pounds last week.
Meanwhile, differentials for Ghana cocoa eased, closing the gap between prices paid for cocoa from the world's no 2. producer versus Ivory Coast. Ghana differentials were 95 pounds over London nearby cocoa futures, compared with 120 pounds last week.
Ghana cocoa usually trades at a significant premium to Ivory Coast cocoa due to its superior quality. In recent months a dispute over who should pay for a port handling fee has slowed shipments from Ghana. Dealers eyed weather conditions in West Africa for the development of the mid crop, saying concerns over dryness may have been premature.
The harmattan is a dry wind that sweeps down from the Sahara desert between December and March, encompassing the last four months of the six-month main crop period. When it is strong it can dry up soil moisture and damage trees. Price ratios for cocoa butter eased to around 1.19 times London bean contracts, compared with 1.21 last week. ($1 = 0.6312 British pounds.