The main cocoa harvest has kicked off in Indonesia's main growing belt of Slaws and favourable weather has raised hopes of higher output and better quality, top industry officials said on Tuesday.
Indonesia, the world's third-largest cocoa producer, expects to produce 460,000 tonnes of beans in 2003/2004 (October-September), from 386,000 tonnes a year, because of ample rain during the flowering season and better crop maintenance. Last year's main crop was badly hit by a dry spell.
"The weather has been conducive to cocoa crops and farmers have also taken good care of their plants," said Dakar Sansui, secretary of the South Sulawesi chapter of the Indonesian Cocoa Association (Asking).
"The bean count has now reached up to 115 beans per 100 grams. I expect the count to improve to 110 beans in May. In the previous season, the bean count was 130," Sanusi told Reuters in this port city, a gateway to the spice islands in eastern Indonesia.
The country's standard bean count is 110 beans per 100 grams.
Industry officials said at least 400 tonnes of cocoa beans had entered Makassar daily from surrounding plantations since last week. The harvest is expected to last until August, with the peak in May when daily arrivals are likely to more than double.
"It seems the harvest will last longer than usual. Normally, it will end in June. There has been some improvement in quality. Farmers are applying more fertilisers," said Sanusi.
Indonesia exports beans to cocoa grinders in Southeast Asia, China and the United States. But consumers have often complained about the quality because most of Indonesians beans are not fermented.
Less than 10 percent of Indonesia's exported beans is fermented, making it difficult to penetrate the quality oriented market in Europe.
In calendar 2003, Indonesia exported nearly 175,000 tonnes of beans, down from 236,000 tonnes in the previous year.
Askindo officials said they had encouraged farmers to ferment their beans, a process that takes around five days, but many farmers are still reluctant to do so. Each time prices increase in New York, farmers move their beans quickly to cash in.
"Price fluctuations do not encourage farmers to ferment their beans," said La Odd Mandong, the group's executive secretary.
But Askindo said many farmers have started to realise it was important to maintain quality because fermented beans could fetch higher prices in the international market.
Indonesia also aims to improve the yield to 1.5 tonnes per hectare from the current 0.6 to 0.7 tonnes per hectare.
Around 300,000 hectares of cocoa plantations, mostly smallholdings, are found across South Sulawesi province.
Prices of Sulawesi beans collected from farmers or middlemen were steady at 10,300 rupiah a kg on Tuesday, but were expected to fall when more beans enter Makassar.