By Ange Aboa
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Damage inflicted by heavy rains on roads in Ivory Coast’s west, southwest and coastal regions is hampering the harvest, drying and transportation of cocoa beans to ports, exporters and buyers have told Reuters.
Six exporters, five cooperatives and six buyers said cocoa arrivals at ports are down and the quality of beans has significantly deteriorated.
“Since the last week of September, we have noticed a resumption of rains that are quite heavy and have blocked roads and made village tracks totally impassable,” said Hamed Coulibaly, who buys cocoa in the region of Duekoue, Guiglo and Man.
He said he has not yet been able to recover 60 metric tons of the commodity that his middlemen have already collected in various villages.
“I have two trucks with cocoa that have been stuck on the tracks towards Blolequin for six days … we can’t do anything,” said Seydou Konate, another buyer in Guiglo.
Cocoa bean arrivals in ports were estimated at 13,000 tons from October 1 to 6, 2024, compared to 50,000 tons last year, according to exporter figures.
In the towns of Man, Danane, Toulepleu, Guiglo, Duekoue and Tai in western Ivory Coast, plantations have been flooded and roads cut off by the rain. Geyo, Yabayo and Buyo in the main cocoa producing part of the country have endured similar conditions.
The wet weather has also damaged cocoa beans, which turn black and ferment if stored in poor conditions and without being dried properly due to lack of sunlight.
“We are seeing a slowdown in cocoa arrivals at the ports … but what worries us the most is the quality of the beans that are arriving,” said an exporter based in San Pedro port who has received about 55 tons to date compared to 300 tons by the same point last year.
“We are receiving very poor quality products: poorly fermented, dried and too humid,” said an exporter in Abidjan who has received 45% less cocoa so far this season compared to last year.
Ivory Coast’s Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC), however, blamed the decrease in cocoa available so far this season to a delay of seed stock.
“We must put things into perspective: there is less cocoa in the ports because there is less cocoa at the moment; it is not because of the state of the roads,” a CCC official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
“Usually, it is September’s stocks that supply the first weeks of October, but this year, that’s not the case,” another CCC official said.
“There’s no cocoa, but it’s coming – we must be patient.”
(Reporting by Ange Aboa; Editing by Portia Crowe and Christina Fincher)
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