Black pod disease could cut Ivory Coast's cocoa output in the 2007/2008 season by between 75,000 and 100,000 tonnes, exporters in the world's top grower said on Wednesday.
Ivory Coast's BCC marketing body has forecast output for the October-March main crop - the principal segment of the overall harvest - at 950,000 tonnes, although some exporters had predicted an even higher main crop of 1.2 million tonnes."I don't think it's premature or risky to say that the current main crop which has started very well compared to last season will now be less good than expected because of black pod, which is really gaining ground at the moment," said an analyst for one international cocoa firm after visiting plantations.
"There are a huge number of rotten pods on the trees and that is a reality you can't hide. At a minimum, I think the fall in production will be 75,000 tonnes," he said.
Heavy rainfall has created the ideal, damp conditions for the fungal infection to thrive and it has spread quickly in the key south-western and western growing regions of Ivory Coast.