ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Rains were scarce in most of top grower Ivory Coast’s main cocoa regions last week and more are needed to boost the April-to-September mid-crop, farmers said on Monday.
Ivory Coast, the world’s top producer of the main ingredient in chocolate, has its dry season from mid-November to March when rainfall is poor.
Cocoa prices hit record highs last month buoyed by fears that dry weather in West Africa may result in a fourth consecutive global deficit this season.
Farmers told Reuters that as flowers and cherelles, which develop into cocoa pods, were proliferating on trees more moisture was needed to help them survive and turn into bean-producing pods.
They added that if the dry conditions persist, flowers and cherelles could shrivel and potentially reduce the size of the mid-crop harvest.
Bean supplies from the October-to March main crop harvest are tailing off, farmers said.
Cocoa beans arrivals at Ivory Coast’s two main ports for the week of Jan. 13-19 were at 34,000 metric tons, compared with 41,000 tons for the same week the previous season, exporters’ data showed on Monday.
In the centre-western region of Daloa and the central regions of Bongouanou and Yamoussoukro, where no rain fell last week, farmers said they were concerned as the lack of rain could weaken cocoa trees with leaves drying on trees.
“If it doesn’t rain, the mid-crop harvest will start late and we’ll not get enough cocoa beans,” said Maurice N’Da, who farms near Daloa, where 0 millimetres (mm) fell last week, 1.2 mm below the five-year average.
In the western region of Soubre and the southern regions of Divo, where below average rains were last week, and Agboville, and the eastern region of Abengourou, where no rain fell last week, farmers said it was still too early to be pessimistic.
In Soubre, 2.1 mm of rainfall was recorded last week, 1.1 mm below the five-year average. The weekly average temperature across the country ranged from 27.7 to 29.1 degrees Celsius.
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly,; Editing by Bate Felix and Ed Osmond)
