Ivory Coast is set to advance the start of its cocoa mid-crop season for the first time, a move that will allow regulators to significantly lower the fixed price paid to farmers in an effort to stimulate sales, according to government and regulatory sources. The decision aims to ease a mounting stockpile crisis caused by falling global prices, which have left Ivorian cocoa uncompetitive and led to unsold beans accumulating inland and at ports.
Beginning next month, cocoa output will be reclassified as mid-crop rather than main crop, with farmers receiving between 800 and 1,000 CFA francs ($1.45–$1.81) per kilogram—far below the main crop rate of 2,800 CFA francs.
($1 = 552.2500 CFA francs)
Source: Tony Bebli
