Beans from Ivory Coast's main cocoa crop are available in the bush but purchasing has slowed to a trickle through lack of finance, co-operatives and exporters said on Monday. A salesman at the Cocaf Ivoire exporter in the port city of San Pedro said fewer beans were arriving at ports as exporters were reluctant to advance cash to independent buyers because of the political situation and volatile price of cocoa.
"The volume of cocoa we are receiving has dropped a lot in the last few days because the exporters have stopped their financing...We have around 800 to 1,000 tonnes a day now when the average was 5,000-6,000 tonnes a few weeks ago," he said.
"It's the lack of cash which is slowing down buying," he said, adding that cocoa was there to be bought. "Cocoa is available in the bush, and in Duekoue (buyers and co-operatives) are bringing in 500 tonnes per day on average and 3,000 tonnes a week," Charlemagne Panou, manager of the Sifca-Coop exporting co-operative in the western town of Duekoue, confirmed.
"All the zones are now accessible, even those where security is uncertain near the buffer zone (dividing rebel and government territories) but there is a lack of financing and that is slowing down purchases," he said.
Cocoa prices in the world's biggest cocoa producer have fluctuated sharply since violence erupted earlier this month when Ivory Coast's forces bombed a French base in the rebel-held north, prompting the former colonial power to destroy most of the country's small air force.
That in turn triggered four days of anti-French mob violence in the main city Abidjan.
A senior official at Delbau, an Ivorian exporter, said price volatility meant exporters had cut financing to buyers to avoid having to reimburse them if prices fell after they bought beans from the farmers.
"We have stopped financing the buyers because of the situation in the country and also because of the price volatility. No one wants to take on the risks alone," he said.