Cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast slowed in the week to April 29 as farmers worked on preparing the beans in the bush, but steady rains promised an improvement in crop quality, exporters said on Monday.
Exporters estimated around 8,000 tonnes of beans were received at the country's two ports during the week of April 23-29, compared with 19,276 in the same week last year, as the April-September mid-crop struggled to get underway.
Port arrivals in the world's largest cocoa exporter totalled around 984,000 tonnes between October 1 and April 29, exporters said, well below the 1,040,997 tonnes in the same period of last season due to a prolonged drought at the start of the year.
"The mid-crop has not yet really begun properly," said the director of one European exporter in the main port of Abidjan. While arrivals figures crept higher in Abidjan, in the south-western port of San Pedro they actually fell week-on-week. "We went from 5,000 tonnes to 3,000 tonnes of arrivals, while we were expecting to rise to 7,000 tonnes," said Ali Lakiss, director-general of exporter Saf Cacao in San Pedro. "The cocoa is being treated in the bush and we will have to wait at least two more weeks before significant volumes start arriving at the port," he said.
Shippers expect output to rise in May after a long dry spell in the run up to the mid crop delayed production. Rains have improved in the last few weeks and trees are showing signs of recovery, bearing leaves and flowers. Exporters said good rains in recent days should help improve the size and quality of the beans, which could pass from around 140 beans per 100 grammes to closer to 120 beans in the coming weeks.