Ivory Coast’s Cocoa-Growing Areas Saw Reduced Rainfall

(Bloomberg) – Cocoa-growing areas in Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer, saw reduced rainfall last week.

Rainfall averaged 5.3 millimeters (0.2 inch) a day in 15 cocoa-growing areas Aug. 25 to Aug. 31, down from 6.4 millimeters the previous week, according to CICO Services, an agronomy intelligence agency based in Abidjan, the commercial capital. Combined precipitation for the areas fell to 559 millimeters from 669 millimeters.

“The rain is scarce, and that’s a good sign,” Antoine Gobet, who farms a 10-hectare (24.7 acres) cocoa plantation in Meaguy, in the southwest of the country, said by phone today. “In the last eight days, sun has alternated with a cloudy weather.”

The country’s southwestern regions got more rain than other cocoa areas last week, according to the data. The coastal towns of San Pedro and Tabou saw 6.4 millimeters and 8 millimeters a day respectively.

Ivory Coast’s southern forest areas, where most of the cocoa is grown, entered the short dry season in mid-July. This season, which is characterized by cooler temperatures, typically lasts until mid-September.

“The weather is good,” Rigobert Bah, who owns a 5-hectare farm in Kouibly, in the west of the country, said by phone today. “The temperature is not too high and the humidity is moderate, which facilitates the development of the pods on the trees.”

Cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast reap a main crop from October to March, while a smaller harvest, called the mid-crop, is produced from April to the end of September. Ivory Coast’s cocoa production will be a record 1.7 million metric tons for the 2013-14 season, the London-based International Cocoa Organization estimated in June. The prior year’s output was 1.4 million tons.