GHANA is likely to miss COCOBOD’s revised cocoa purchases target of 750,000 tonnes for the 2014/15 (October to September) crop year.
Cocoa purchases are well below 700,000 tonnes with only a month to the close of the season.
“COCOBOD cannot meet its revised target for the season. They are expecting an average of 5,000 tonnes a week until the end of the season,” a senior government official has said.
As such, COCOBOD has extended this year’s main crop-buying period in frantic efforts to boost output, which is currently down 23 per cent compared to what was recorded in the 2013/14 season when Ghana produced 900,000 tonnes of cocoa.
COCOBOD had last Friday asked buyers to begin preparations for the closure of the crop year in mid-September, to be followed by an early opening of the 2015/16 main crop, which normally begins in early October.
The regulator had at the beginning of the season, October 2014 targeted a production of 950,000 tonne (main and light crop) for the 2014/2015 crop season but revised the target due to problems attributed to bad weather and crop disease.
Following the unexpected drop in 2014/15 cocoa beans output, COCOBOD is forecasting that output will rebound in 2015/16. Supported by improved provision of inputs and favourable weather, COCOBOD is targeting a production of 900,000 MT.
However, recent reports by the International Cocoa Organization, Bloomberg and Intracen, a member of the World Trade Organization have expressed concern about the major risks hanging over the next crop season.
According to them, traders estimate that COCOBOD will need to roll over 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes of forward sold cocoa from this season to the 2015/16 crop, reducing the availability of cocoa beans for sale. Moreover, trading houses have not yet started their pod-counting activities ahead of the 2015/16 main crop.
El Niño, a weather condition, they say is likely to have an impact, especially during the Harmattan when the effects are strongest, increasing the risk of a drop in deliveries in January, and potentially killing off the light crop.
The finder/Ghana
