Bad Weather to Affect Cocoa Output in Ghana – Traders

• Bad Weather to Affect Cocoa Output in Ghana – Traders

Ghanaian traders are expecting the price of global Cocoa to remain high in the 2019/20 season as production shortfall due to bad weather both in Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer and in Ghana continues.

Local traders, who spoke on condition of anonymity with Reuters, projected 790,000 tonnes for Ghana in 2019/20, a shortfall from the 875,000 forecast by Reuters and expected to send global prices even higher if materialised.

Another source at Ghanaian cocoa regulator said the weather is a major concern but refused to discuss the expected number for the season.

“It has not been raining for more than four months and the heat is so strong there are very few flowers, cherelles (young cocoa pods) and pods in the fields,” said an Accra-based exporter.

According to the International Cocoa Organisation, Ghanaian output in 2018/19 stood at 815,000 tonnes, down from 900,000 tonnes previously projected in February of the same year.

However, some experts question to what degree Ghanaian cocoa output will miss projections in the 2020/19 season.

“People have been reducing their numbers but not by 50,000 tonnes. Arrivals so far have been quite good and at this stage, (there’s only) the mid crop and tail-end of the main crop (left),” an analyst at a major chocolate maker said.

Ivory Coast and Ghana produce more than 60 percent of the world’s cocoa, bad weather in the two countries always send global price through the roof.