Brazil's 2004/05 (May/April) cocoa arrivals in Bahia state totalled 852,157 60-kg bags by August 8, down 38.2 percent from 1.38 million bags a year ago, the Bahia Commercial Association said on Wednesday.
Bahia, Brazil's main cocoa producer, itself delivered 96,535 bags in the week, up 44 percent from 67,037 bags in the same week in 2003/04.
"The volume of arrivals from Bahia maintained last week's high level and indications are that substantial figures will continue to appear at least in the next few weeks," cocoa analyst Thomas Hartmann said in a weekly report.
He added that reports of increasing incidence of fungus diseases indicated growing losses of production, which in some areas was said to be as high as 50 per cent on non-grafted plantations.
Following recent light rains, dry and sunny weather is forecast over Bahia's cocoa region for the next days, with sporadic rainfalls returning again during the weekend.
Temperatures remain in the range between 17 and 27 Celsius (62 and 80 Fahrenheit).
Always following the fluctuations of the terminal markets, internal prices in Bahia have dropped from 80 reais per arroba (15 kg) last Wednesday to 73,50 reais on Friday, but recovered to 75 reais per arroba on Tuesday.
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