Ivory Coast's cocoa industry management committee has set the guideline price paid to farmers for cocoa at 950 CFA francs ($2.11) per kg for the 2009/10 season, up from 700 francs per kg in the previous season, it said on Thursday. The 2009/10 season, which officially opened on Thursday, is expected to produce between 1 million and 1.15 million tonnes of cocoa, according to a Reuters poll.
That would be lower than the 1.19 million tonnes grown in the season just ended that have so far arrived at ports. Gilbert Ano, who heads the government-appointed management committee, said Ivory Coast's political deadlock had prevented much-needed reforms of the sector from being implemented, and volumes were likely to fall as a result. Ivory Coast have faced continual delays in holding elections.
"Our plantations have suffered from the crisis ... the most optimistic forecasts predict a fall in production this year," he told journalists at the launch of the season. Exporters earlier said they had received notification that the main export tax, known as DUS (Droit Unique de Sortie) had been cut by 4.5 percent to 210 CFA francs per kg for the new season from 220 francs in the season just ended.
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