Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast in October appeared to be lower than a year ago, according to data seen by Reuters, but exporters said the real figures were much higher as many had failed to declare beans because of shut downs for the country's presidential election.
Separately, exporters estimated around 28,000 tonnes of beans were delivered to ports in the week from November 1 to November 7, compared with 25,106 tonnes in the same week a year ago. Cocoa arrival figures are likely to be revised once exporters finish declaring their exports, a process held up by two bank holidays around October 31, elections and a slowdown in activity because of fears of violence.
Cocoa arrivals were 108,712 tonnes between October 1-31, compared with 183,141 tonnes delivered in the same period a year ago, according to data from the Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC). The figures showed just 5,995 tonnes of beans arriving at the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro between October 25 and 31, down from 63,126 tonnes in the same week of the 2009/2010 season.
However, the director of an export company said the real figure for Ivory Coast's arrivals is likely to be around 150,000 tonnes to October 31, once all the declarations have come in. BCC officials said two bank holidays last week for the presidential election and a shut down of operations by exporters because they feared of violence during the wait for results had led to some late declarations of arrivals.
"Last week was disturbed by the presidential elections," a BCC official said. "A lot of operators were not able to make their purchase declarations as they normally would." Some 13,329 tonnes of beans, declared late by exporters around the date of Ivory Coast's election on October 31, were added to the tally, but many more late declarations are expected to come in this week.
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