Ivory Coast main crop cocoa arrivals hit 1,238,947 tonnes

Cocoa plant

Cocoa arrivals for Ivory Coast's October-to-March main crop harvest reached 1,238,947 tonnes, according to a document from the marketing board, the CCC, up 14.8 percent from 1,079,334 tonnes during the same period of the previous season.
The figure, contained in a report due to be presented to government ministers and seen by Reuters on Wednesday, was higher than exporters' previous arrivals estimate of 1,165,000 tonnes for the main crop.
"It's clear that we'll have 1.6 million tonnes this season," the director of an Abidjan-based export company told Reuters. "We've raised our production estimates for the (April-to-September) mid-crop due to improved weather conditions."
A second Abidjan-based exporter agreed.
"I think that 1.6 million tonnes by the end of the season will easily be reached given these figures," he said.
The world's top cocoa grower also exported 1,137,164 tonnes of beans and semi-refined products during the main crop, up 5.5 percent from the previous season, according to the document.