COPAL Forecasts Marginal Increase In Cocoa Production

The Cocoa Producers’ Alliance (COPAL) says world cocoa production will increase marginally by 37, 000 tonnes by December from the 3,592,600 tonnes recorded in 2009.

The alliance said in a statement on Monday in Lagos that the expected increase was arrived at after the world body reviewed the world cocoa economy for 2009/10 in Kuala Lumpur.

It noted that the slight increase was due to the recent impact of higher prices of cocoa, which had led to improvement in agricultural practices.

The statement said that although Africa’s regional outlook was estimated to fall by 51,000 tonnes, its share of world cocoa production remained at approximately 70 per cent.

The statement also forecasted that the world total grindings would increase from 3,490,000 tonnes in 2009 to 3,629,000 tonnes by December.

It attributed the increase to the recovery from the global economic recession, which had led to an increase in the demand for grindings globally.

“Emerging cocoa market such as China and India are estimated to grind about 40 per cent and 19 per cent respectively,” it said.

It noted that the over-supply of cocoa to international market resulted to poor pricing of cocoa.

The statement said that structural over-supply still existed in the world cocoa economy, adding that the increase in grindings had not been enough to deplete the surplus.

According to the statement, with the ongoing investment by producers there is a strong possibility that production would grow faster in the near future.