(Ecofin Agency) - In Cote d’Ivoire, total volume of cocoa transported to the main export sites reached two million tons on September 24, 2017, up nearly one third of the volume transported during the previous season (1.5 million tons).

According to Reuters, 10,000 tons of the brown gold were conveyed to the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro, between September 18 and 24, which is a little less than half of the volume transported to the infrastructures last year, over the same period (24,000 tons).

Overall, the booming volume of exports, could have been welcomed by the nation, which has aimed to produce two million tons of cocoa for two years, if it was not for the fact that the global cocoa market currently records a surplus (371,000 tons more than expected) and low prices.

The gloomy situation could prolong over the next two or three years even, according to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), if the major producers of the crop (Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon), do not agree, together, to reduce their respective productions.

Espoir Olodo