Cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast reached some 840,000-855,000 tonnes between the start of the 2003/04 (Oct-Sept) and February 12, leading exporters in the world's top cocoa grower said on Friday.
That compared with 913,000 tonnes in the same period of the 2002/03 season, according to official figures.
The exporters' figures showed that the shortfall from the 2002/03 campaign, which yielded a near-record harvest of 1.36 million tonnes, was narrowing. Previous exporters' data up to January 18, 2004 had shown arrivals were some 100,000 tonnes lower than in the same period a year.