Ghana cocoa output to rebound – ICCO
The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) says Ghana’s cocoa industry has the potential for a sharp rebound in output in the next season, after a slump of more than 20 per cent this season, agrimoney.com reports.
According to the ICCO, while Ghana’s cocoa output this season will fall to “almost” 696,000 tonnes, the main crop in 2015-16 “is expected to rebound.”
ICCO cites the move by Ghana’s cocoa regulator, Cocobod, to revive the country’s output, which topped one million tonnes in 2011.
The organization notes that Cocobod has “intensified its strategy to sustain and significantly increase cocoa production in the country through a variety of initiatives”, the ICCO said.
It highlighted a programme for distributing free fertilizer and cocoa seedlings, “mass spraying of cocoa farms, and the introduction of a younger generation of farmers in cocoa farming associations”.
The ICCO made the comments when it lowered its estimate for the world cocoa production deficit in 2014-15, on an October-to-September basis, by 23 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes.
The estimate for world cocoa output was cut by 10 million tonnes to 4.16 million tonnes, reflecting weaker estimates for harvests in Nigeria, where crops were hurt by infections and poor weather, and Indonesia, which “continues to battle with diseases and ageing trees”.
However, the forecast for consumption was cut by 33 million tonnes, to 4.13 million tonnes, on weaker expectations for grindings in the Americas and Asia.
“Cocoa processing margins have come under increasing pressure… as high cocoa bean prices, large stocks of cocoa powder, very low processing margins and moderate growth of demand for chocolate continues to weigh on the activity,” the ICCO said.
Malaysian grindings were pegged at 200,000 tonnes, a downgrade of 23,000 tonnes from the previous estimate, and a drop of 23 per cent year on year, it said.
The downgrades, the ICCO notes, disguised higher estimates for both output and grindings in Ivory Coast, the top producing country.
The estimate for processing volumes was lifted by 15,000 tonnes this season to 560,000 tonnes, a rise of 41,000 tonnes year on year, reflecting “significant investment in processing capacity,” it said.
For production, the ICCO nudged higher its estimate by 10,000 tonnes to 1.75 million tonnes.
Ghana’s cocoa sector has been buffeted by volatilities.
The country’s largest cocoa buyer, the Produce Buying Company (PBC), posted a net loss of GH¢25.4 million in the 2013/14 financial year as compared to the previous year of GH¢8.8 million.
The company, which buys about 35.3 percent of Ghana’s total annual cocoa output, attributed the loss to the declining commodity prices on the world market and high inflation in the country.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi