MEAGUI, Ivory Coast – The quality of cocoa in top grower Ivory Coast's main crop has already fallen to levels normally seen later in the year as poor weather takes its toll, raising fears for the April-to-September mid-crop, exporters and farmers said on Thursday.
Exporters expect extreme temperatures and dry, dusty conditions, the result of the most severe Harmattan winds in three decades, to cause a sharp drop in the size of the mid-crop.
But if the current decline in quality also continues as many expect, much of the cocoa that is harvested may not even be suitable for processing, the grinders who buy the bulk of the mid-crop's smaller beans worry.
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