Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower, is expecting to harvest 1.6 million tonnes of beans in the current 2015/16 season, down from around 1.8 million tonnes last season, a senior finance ministry source said on Thursday. The West African nation had already sold forward some 850,000 tonnes of next season's crop by the end of March, said the official, who works on the cocoa portfolio but asked not to be named.
"It's true that (output) is down, which is also going to have an impact on our revenue," he said. Port arrivals are lagging behind last year's record crop due mainly to poor rainfall in the run-up to the season. "The data from the (Coffee and Cocoa Council) show that nearly 850,000 tonnes of (2016/17) contracts were sold from October up to the end of March," he said.
"The target is to sell between 1.1 and 1.2 million tonnes by the end of September if market conditions allow it," he added. The 2016/17 season opens at the start of October. The source said the government aimed to maintain the current farmer price of 1,000 CFA francs ($1.74) per kg for 2016/17 season.