Farmers and buyers in a key cocoa-growing region of western Ivory Coast said on Friday they expected the mid-crop harvest to be larger than last year's and the beans to be bigger than usual. The area around Daloa produces around a quarter of total cocoa output by the world's top grower, which has harvested big crops over the past two seasons despite civil war. The 2004/05 main crop (October-March) is generally expected to be lower than the previous one and closer to the average output of one million tonnes.
The mid-crop (April-September) usually yields 200,000 tonnes but in the past two years has topped 300,000 tonnes. "This year we will have a good mid-crop, better than last year's, because the rainfall has been very favourable and the fields have all been producing well," said a buyer in Daloa.
He said he had already stocked 15 tonnes of good-quality mid-crop cocoa beans in his warehouse and expected the bean count for 100 grams to go down in the next few weeks meaning beans would be bigger than usual, which makes them more prized.
The export standard bean count per 100 grams during the main crop is around 95-100. During the mid-crop, when beans tend to be smaller and of a poorer quality, it goes up to 120.
"I think the bean count will go down from 120 to 105-110 because rains have been very good, allowing the pods to grow bigger," the buyer said, adding the beans he had received so far had been properly dried.
Merchant Alphonse Konan said cocoa flows from the bush were small for the time being but volumes should pick up in April and May. He also said the bean count was likely to fall. "There a lot of big pods so I think the next round of the mid-crop harvest will be better," he said.
"The cocoa is dried up well because there is a lot of sunshine now after the rains. Right now, there are no problems (with quality)," he added. In Guessabo, some 60 km (37 miles) west of Daloa, a co-operative official said he, too, expected the mid-crop harvest to be up from last year.
"There are flowers and a lot of pods on the trees. The main crop was catastrophic for us, we did not have a lot of cocoa. But we will make up for it with the mid-crop," Clement Yobouet, deputy chairman of the Cagrida co-operative, told Reuters.