El Niño could hit Ivory Coast cocoa

22 August 1997

El Niño could hit Ivory Coast cocoa

COMMODITY broker ED&F Man warned yesterday that the El Niño factor, playing havoc with crops predominantly in the southern hemisphere, could severely hit the 1997-98 cocoa crop and perhaps double the global deficit to 450,000 tonnes.

The Ivory Coast, the worlds largest producer of cocoa, is expected to only reap 950,000 tonnes. It had been forecast to harvest 1.2m tonnes.