Ivory Coast's cooler weather raises concerns among cocoa farmers
ABIDJAN, Aug 19 (Reuters) -Above average rains boosted the development of the October to March main crop in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa growing regions last week although cooler temperatures raised some concerns, farmers said on Monday.
The world's top cocoa producer is in its rainy season, which runs officially from April to mid-November.
Farmers said the crop was developing well so they expected significant volumes of good quality beans to leave the bush from September, adding that harvesting would increase sharply in October.
However, some farmers said they were concerned by cooler weather over the last week.
If colder temperatures persist until mid-September it would stop the crop reaching its maximum potential and could prevent farmers from properly drying the first beans.
In the west-central region of Daloa and the central regions of Yamoussoukro and Bongouanou, where rains were above average last week, farmers said good rainfall mixed with sunny spells in September and October would help the main crop to last longer than last year.
They added that they were still optimistic that the main crop would have a strong start in October.
"We're happy this year when we look at branches and trunks of the trees. It's full of cocoa," said farmer and cooperative member Remi Allou, who farms near Daloa, where 27.3 millimetres (mm) of rain fell last week, 4.2 mm above the five-year average.
In the western region of Soubre, the southern region of Agboville and the eastern region of Abengourou, where rains were below average, and in the southern region of Divo, where rains were above average, farmers said the crop was developing well but a cold wave was threatening young fruits.
"For the moment there is no damage. But if the cold persists, it could dry out many small pods," said Salame Kone, who farms near Soubre, where 11 mm of rain fell last week, 2.6 mm below the five-year average.
Farmers in those regions said signs pointed to an earlier start to main crop harvesting compared with last year.
Average temperatures across Ivory Coast ranged from 23.8 to 26.5 degrees Celsius over the past week.
Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Anait Miridzhanian, Kirsten Donovan
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
