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Price of chocolate might rise
27/09/2002 20:20 - (SA)
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| French nationals board a US Air Force aircraft en route to Abidjan at Yamoussoukro airport, Ivory Coast, on Friday. French troops reached a cease-fire with rebels and secured key roads to allow nearly 1000 expatriates to flee a weeklong mutiny in the town of Bouake. (Boris Heger, AP) |
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Francoise Medgyesi
Paris - Prices for cocoa have skyrocketed to 16-year highs this week amid continuing civil strife in Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cocoa producing country.
"We are waiting to see what happens. The crisis has only hit
Ivorian cities," Sylvain Margou, secretary of the French national
chocolate syndicate, said on Friday.
"It had better not spread to rural areas just as the cocoa
harvest begins. Prices would spike again, pushing up the cost of
chocolate bars and candy."
There are fears that the supply of cocoa could be disrupted due to the violence in the West African country.
On London's futures exchange, LIFFE, cocoa was priced at £1 487 per ton, compared with Thursday's close of £1 493.
Prices also rose to their highest level in 16 years in New York on Thursday, closing at US$2 157 per ton, just below a session high of $2 164.
Paul Ducasse, managing director of the 120-year-old French
chocolate company Weiss Margainne, said the price of chocolate bars could rise by 6% in coming months and that of industrial
cocoa used by bakers and restaurants by 10%.
"The crisis comes at the worst time. Thanks to abundant rains,
the harvest is very promising, with production of more than 1.2
million tons that could stop two or three years of speculation on cacao prices," Ducasse said.
He fears that rebel soldiers could prevent cocoa beans from
being shipped to the port of Abidjan, cutting exports from the
country that produces 40% of the world's cocoa crop.
One analyst said Ivory Coast's accusations that neighbouring
Burkina Faso had backed an alleged coup attempt was fuelling concern Abidjan would prevent workers from Burkina Faso from entering the country.
Ivory Coast is heavily dependent on migrant labour to harvest
its crop. -Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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