Indonesia's cocoa bean output this year is expected to increase 8 percent after setting weaker-than-expected production last year, the chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Association (Askindo) said on Monday. The world's third-largest grower after Ivory Coast and Ghana is expected to produce 540,000 tonnes this year against a revised estimate of 500,000 tonnes for 2009, Halim Abdul Razak said.
The latest estimate for 2009 was much smaller than the association's previous projection of 590,000 to 600,000 tonnes. He also said this year's bean exports may rise to 390,000 tonnes from 360,000 tonnes estimated for 2009. "Based on data we collected, that (500,000 tonnes) is the amount we could produce last year," Razak told reporters on the sidelines of a parliament session.
He said the expected rise in output this year would be partly supported by the government's programme to replant ageing trees and rehabilitate less productive trees. The three-year programme, that may cost $350 million, includes replanting of 70,000 hectares and rejuvenation over an area of 235,000 hectares.
Indonesia's cocoa output has been on a downward trend after hitting a record 600,000 tonnes in 2006 due to various factors including poor farming techniques and Vascular Streak Dieback (VSD), a fungal disease that has been attacking leaves, branches and tree trunks across the main growing island of Sulawesi, which accounts for about three-quarters of the nation-wide output.
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