ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Multinational cocoa exporters operating in Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, fear a drop in supplies from farmers in the coming months after adverse weather hit crops, raising the prospect that some of them might default on contracts.
So far this season, the volume of beans arriving at ports is up 34% on the same time in 2023-24. But last season was the worst in a decade, according to the director of a European buyer, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“If you compare arrivals to 2022, a normal season, we are 15% below that. That means the situation isn’t rosy, despite appearances,” said a second European exporter.
In the west and southwestern regions that produce more than half of Ivory Coast’s cocoa, joy has given way to disappointment after heavy rains damaged crops.
“We were happy at the start of October, but the rains arrived and ruined everything. Today we only have a few pods to harvest and nothing more,” said Daniel Konan Kanga, a farmer who owns six hectares in the western city of Duekoue.
“There’s nothing more to harvest,” said Simon Djedje, who owns five hectares in the southwestern region of Soubre.
In the Ivorian bush, cooperatives, buyers and middlemen say the bulk of the main harvest was completed in November, and shortages are expected to last through February or March.
Typically, the main crop peaks in December, and the mid-crop harvest begins in April.
“I don’t see how we can meet our target volumes with two or three months of low arrivals,” said another director at a multinational exporter in the port of San Pedro.
“It’s clear that production will be weak for two months through January and February, maybe even March. It will be untenable.”
(Reporting by Ange Aboa. Writing by Jessica Donati. Editing by Anait Miridzhanian and Mark Potter)
