Indonesian cocoa exporters are seeking to renegotiate supply pacts with overseas buyers after the government slapped an export tax on the commodity in April, the Indonesia Cocoa Association said on Tuesday. Cocoa trading in Makassar, home of the biggest port in the main cocoa growing area of Sulawesi island, has been slow this week despite the main harvest being already under way as the new tax put off exporters from buying beans.
Indonesia, the world's third-largest producer of cocoa, hopes to boost domestic grinding with the tax enforced from April 1, but it could disrupt sales. Exporters were negotiating with buyers to try and delay shipments for April to avoid losses as the export tax meant they incurred extra costs, said Halim Razak, chairman of the Association, known as Askindo. The association had asked the government to delay the export tax by six months, he added.
The trade ministry has set the cocoa bean export tax at 10 percent for April while the base export price at which beans will be taxed is set at $2,603 a tonne, meaning exporters will pay around $260 for every tonne they ship, regardless of the invoiced price. Indonesian exporters have around 40,000 tonnes of cocoa beans in warehouses that are ready to be shipped and have been contracted for overseas, Halim said.