Ghana likely to miss 750,000 T cocoa purchases target -sources

Ghana's cocoa purchases for 2014/15 crop year are below 700,000 and are unlikely to meet the government's revised full season target of 750,000 given that the period will end in mid-September, industry sources told Reuters on Tuesday. 

Cocoa beans and pods

Industry regulator Cocobod said at the start of the season last October that Ghana, the world's second biggest cocoa exporter, would produce more than 1 million tonnes but revised the target given problems with weather and crop disease.
Cocobod has extended this year's main crop-buying period in frantic efforts to boost output, which is currently down 23 percent on the 2013/14 season when the West African country produced 900,000 tonnes of cocoa.
"Cocobod cannot meet its revised target for this year," a senior government source told Reuters.
"They are expecting an average of 5,000 tonnes a week until the end of the season," another source said.
The regulator 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.