Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached around 873,000 tonnes by March 21, exporters estimated on Monday, which is only about four thousand tonnes more than at the same stage in last year's poor season. Exporters estimated only 4,000 tonnes of beans were delivered to the West African state's two ports between March 15 to 21, down from 14,049 tonnes in the same week a year ago.
"It's the weakest volume of the season," said an exporter from a European export company in Abidjan. The total so far compared with 869,071 tonnes in the same period of the previous season and ran below a five-year average. Whether or not Ivory Coast's 2009/10 season can beat 2008/9, when volumes barely scraped 1.2 million tonnes, will depend on the development of the mid-crop.
"The rains have germinated the flowers in the plantations and we're waiting to see how the pods develop," said a trader from a European export company in San Pedro. "We're going to have a weak start to the mid-crop but if all goes well, there might be a strong finish in August-September," he added.
WEATHER GOOD Farmers across the country reported a good mixture of rain and sun that they said would support the development of the mid-crop, which runs from April to September. Many pods were ready for harvest, they said. "The rains have been good since the start of March. We also have good sun which has grown the pods nicely," said farmer Roger Tano, who works in the outskirts of Soubre, in the heart of the cocoa belt.
"There are a lot of pods on the trees." One exporter said the good weather could enable a mid-crop of around 200,000 tonnes "because the rain was enough and fell at good moment." "The presence of trees with a mixture of many medium-sized and young pods tells us the mid-crop will be plentiful," he added. Farmers said rains had made the ground humid, providing enough moisture for the growth of pods. They said harvesting would start in late March.