Ivory Coast: bean shortage pushes cocoa exporters on verge of default

Cocoa exporters in Ivory Coast are on the verge of defaulting on their contracts due to a lack of beans and urgently need up to 150,000 tonnes to honor their commitments, according to industry sources.
As the world’s top producer heads towards the end of its October-to-March main harvest, cocoa bean supply is tight, with exporters estimating that arrivals at its main ports stood at 34,000 tonnes for the 2nd week in February, versus 66,000 tonnes during the same period last season. Last Friday (10 February), the Cocoa and Coffee Council (CCC), Ivory Coast’s cocoa regulator, met with representatives of GEPEX, which represents multinational exporters, domestic traders’ lobby GNI and UCOOPEXCI, which represents exporting co-operatives, to discuss the shortfall.
The sources who attended the meeting said they had asked the CCC to react quickly so domestic exporters could avoid looming defaults. At the meeting, the watchdog proposed pushing back the loading period for the contracts of struggling exporters to June so that they can buy beans between April and June during the mid-crop harvest, the sources said. Another solution proposed by the CCC included authorizing local cocoa grinders to hold only 15 days’ worth of beans grinding capacity instead of 45 days. But cocoa grinding companies said the solution was impracticable because the stocks are already scheduled to be processed within a few months in response to strong market demand for semi-finished cocoa products.