Licensed cocoa buyers in Ghana who refused to buy beans in a dispute with regulator Cocobod over its quality grading system have resumed purchases after the state body agreed to relax controls, buyers said on Thursday.
Buyers earlier stopped doing business after Cocobod classified quantities of their beans as substandard, paying them just 50 percent of the agreed price.
Under the country's semi-liberalised system, buyers are licensed to buy cocoa from farmers before selling it to Cocobod, which then exports it.
The row centred on the grading system Cocobod introduced for the 2005/06 main season, designed to maintain the country's reputation as the provider of the world's best-quality cocoa. Buyers have been buying cocoa at full price from farmers since the main season began on October 7 but have received half price for bags that contained more than 25 percent of lower quality "purple" beans, a penalty that many felt was too harsh.
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