Ivorian mid crop cocoa arrivals pick up slowly

Cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast totalled around 999,000 tonnes between October 1 and April 29, exporters estimated on Monday, compared with 1,066,196 tonnes in the same period last season.
Exporters estimated around 14,000 tonnes of beans were received at the country's two ports during the week of April 30-May 6, well below the 25,199 tonnes delivered in the same week last year. If confirmed by a detailed breakdown of arrivals later in the week, the 14,000 tonnes would be the largest quantity delivered in any one week so far this April-September mid crop which has seen output delayed by a long spell of dry weather.
"The volume last week was the highest we have had since the start of the (April-September) mid crop. I think that signals the effective start of this second stage of the annual harvest," said the director of one major European exporter in Abidjan.
"This week we could have even more because beans being (fermented and dried) in the bush are now becoming available," he said. Exporters say they expect production this mid crop could fall as low as 230,000 tonnes following strong output in excess of 400,000 tonnes last year, all because of the dry spell which lasted from January to March in almost all growing regions.
Climatic conditions are much improved since the tropical country entered its long rainy season. Farmers say their trees are benefiting from a good mixture of rainfall and long sunny spells with new leaves and flowers appearing on the branches.
But some shippers say even if output picks up later on in the mid crop, that cannot fully compensate for the weeks lost in the current early stages of the season as trees begin to recover bearing new leaves and producing blooms.
"I'm persuaded we won't have the same amount as last year. The conditions are visibly not the same," said Ali Lakiss, director of the Saf Cacao exporter in San Pedro.
"We're not expecting this mid crop to go beyond 275,000 tonnes because we don't see much on the trees at the moment which would lead us to believe any different," he said, adding there were few pods.
Farmers and analysts say they expect the 2007/08 main crop, the larger of the two six month annual growing cycles, to start early and produce well because the trees will have rested during the dry spell when few were able to produce large, healthy pods. "The (mid crop) will be short but the main crop will get off to an early start. That's at least some good news," said Lakiss.