Ivory Coast cuts cocoa export contracts to 1.2 million tons over poor weather
Ivory Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC) has cut to 1.2 million tons its export contract sales of the main crop from October to March, down from 1.3 million, two council sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
The cocoa sector regulator in the world's top producer of cocoa beans said the downward revision followed poor weather conditions ahead of the 2025/26 season, set to begin on October 1.
Drought and swollen shoot disease drove higher pod mortality between July and August, a crucial period for setting the size of the next cocoa crop.
"This adjustment will allow us to avoid any defaults," a CCC official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Four pod counters and three exporters also confirmed to Reuters that they revised downward cocoa production figures last week, after counts proved disappointing.
"The data we received from our counting teams last week confirms what we've been seeing since early July," said a second individual at the regulator, who also sought anonymity.
"The mortality rate of flowers and cherelles continued to rise because the drought worsened."
In early July, the CCC had already raised concerns about the high mortality of flowers and cherelles on cocoa plantations but had refused to cut export contract volumes, preferring to wait for the August forecasts.
The CCC has already reached 950,000 tons of cocoa sold for the 2025/26 season and has only 250,000 tons left to sell by the end of September.
Under the CCC's marketing model, between 70% and 80% of the forecast harvest must be pre-sold in order to determine an average that will be used to set the guaranteed farmgate price for the coming season.
The CCC said it hoped to complete sales by the end of August or, at the latest, the first week of September, so it can focus on preparing for the campaign opening.
"We are preparing for a difficult campaign because the intermediary crop is not good, which means no carryover stocks, or at best very poor-quality beans that will be hard to blend," said the director of an export company based in Abidjan.
