ABIDJAN: Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached around 775,000 tonnes by Jan. 20 since the start of the season in October, exporters estimated on Monday, compared with 838,020 tonnes in the same period of the previous season.
Shipments continued to fall, with exporters estimating deliveries to the West African state's two ports at around 33,000 tonnes of beans between Jan. 14 and 20, down from 46,000 the week before.
Arrivals totalled 48,698 tonnes in the same week a year ago.
"We see that the fall in arrivals is faster than expected. We're losing more than 10,000 tonnes each week, and we haven't reached the volumes forecast at the season's start," the director of an Abidjan-based exporter told Reuters.
Exporters said reports from middlemen indicated very little cocoa remained on the plantations, meaning the main crop output could decline further in the coming months.
"It's possible that deliveries will be between 15,000 and 20,000 or even less from February to April, because current production won't allow us to reach volumes beyond that," said the head of another Abidjan-based export firm.
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