Ivory Coast tightens cocoa sector regulation

Abidjan - Ivory Coast's government has introduced stricter regulation of its world-leading cocoa sector for the 2014/15 season as it reasserts its control following a decade of liberalisation, according to a document from the country's marketing board.

The government abandoned a system of spot buying in the 2012/13 season, selling forward its anticipated crop in order to fix a guaranteed minimum price for farmers and encourage investment in ageing plantations.

Under the new measures contained in a memorandum sent to exporters and merchants by the Coffee and Cocoa Council last week, exporters are limited to 110 000 tonnes of bean purchases during the October-to-March main crop harvest.

They will also no longer be allowed to pay above the government-fixed price scale, which set a price of 938 CFA francs ($1.81) per kilogramme for beans arriving at the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro during the main crop.

Cocoa merchants and farmer cooperatives will also be required to declare their weekly purchases and are only allowed to hold bean stocks for 30 days, the memorandum stated.