Cocoa bean exports from Indonesia's main growing island of Sulawesi fell 18 percent to 54,186 tonnes in the first four months of 2009 from the same period last year, trade data showed on Tuesday, amid weak demand and falling output. In April alone, exports fell 57 percent to 8,374 tonnes from a year ago.
"We have seen the falling output trend in the past few years because of ageing trees in Sulawesi. The situation could still get worse," Zulhefi Sikumbang, secretary general of the Indonesian Cocoa Association, Askindo, told Reuters. An industry official in Makassar, main port on Sulawesi island, said: "It is a combination of bad crop and demand that brought down exports." Indonesia, world's third biggest producer, after Ivory Coast and Ghana, exports cocoa beans mostly to grinders in Malaysia, the United States, and Brazil. When processing beans, grinders get butter and cake, which is later pressed into powder.
Butter is also used to make spreads and soaps, while powder is used for coatings in chocolate-make, beverages and ice cream. Malaysia, which is Asia's largest cocoa grinder, asked Indonesian suppliers early this year to delay shipment of up to 10,000 tonnes of beans because of falling demand for chocolate ingredients. The Malaysian Cocoa Board said on Tuesday that Malaysia's cocoa grindings dropped 17.9 percent to 67,104 tonnes in the first quarter of 2009, in line with similar downturns in Europe and North America as the global economic slowdown cuts demand.
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