Brazilian 2006/07 (May/April) cocoa arrivals from Bahia and other states totalled 3.58 million 60-kg bags by April 1, down 2.2 percent from 3.66 million bags a year ago, Bahia Commercial Association said on Wednesday.
The association said that Bahia state, Brazil's main cocoa producer, delivered 9,906 bags in the week to April 1, compared with 5,349 bags during the same period last year. "The first pickings from the early Temporao crop (midcrop) in Bahia are finding their way into the market," cocoa analyst Thomas Hartmann said in a weekly report.
He added that slight increases in coming weeks will probably occur but, because of the dry period earlier in the year, the bulk of the midcrop production probably only will appear from July onward. "Arrivals from other states show the foreseen improvement," said Hartmann.
Sunny and dry weather with few clouds and some scattered showers is forecast to prevail over Bahia's entire cocoa region until early next week. Temperatures vary in the range of 19 to 33 degrees Celsius (66 to 91 Fahrenheit).
As terminal prices rose further last week, farm gate prices in Bahia rose to 61.00-64.00 reais per arroba (15 kilos), keeping this range until the end of the week, but dropped sharply to 59.00-60.00 reais in reaction to Monday's meltdown of world prices. Prices held this same level on Tuesday, equivalent to $1,930-1,965 per tonne.
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