KEMPALA, April 5 , 2011 - Uganda exported 223,099, 60-kg bags of coffee in March this year, up from 217,809 bags exported in the same month last year, a source at Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) said on Tuesday.
The rise follows four straight months of export declines that were caused by drought and diseases in Africa's second largest grower.
"There is a noticeable increase in farm gate prices, which we think encouraged farmers to release bigger amounts from their stocks," a source at UCDA told Reuters.******
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Indonesia Sulawesi March cocoa bean exports drop 40 pct yr/yr
JAKARTA, April 5, 2011 - Indonesian cocoa bean exports from the main growing island of Sulawesi fell 40 percent in March compared to the same month last year as rains hampered the harvest and exporters held beans to avoid a higher export tax, industry data showed on Tuesday.
Exporters shipped 11,132.01 tonnes of cocoa beans in March, down from 18,465.88 tonnes in the same month a year ago, data from the Indonesian Cocoa Association (INCA) showed.
"The main factor is prolonged rains. Additionally, traders are keeping their stocks, waiting for the export tax to fall," said Zulhefi Sikumbang, chairman of INCA.
Indonesia's weather bureau forecast the dry season will start in most areas around May-June, whereas normally the dry season runs from April to Sept/Oct.
Indonesia, the world's third largest cocoa producer after Ivory Coast and Ghana, expects cocoa production will fall slightly this year as the wet weather has worsened pest attacks and disease.
Indonesia imposed an export tax for cocoa beans in March at 10 percent, unchanged from February, and has lifted it to 15 percent for April. There was no export tax in March last year.
"The export tax is high. I expect no trader will sell their stocks unless they have contracts for April shipments," said David Lim, a Makassar-based trader.
Traders were likely to slow shipments in April to avoid the higher tax, agreed Sikumbang. Exports may pick up in May as the main harvest will be underway and the export tax is expected to be lower in line with easing New York cocoa prices, he said.
Cocoa futures prices <, which hit a 32-year peak last month, pared earlier gains on Monday after market expectations of a resolution to Ivory Coast's conflict were not met.******
NY Cocoa market close review for today, April 5, 2011
* Key May cocoa futures closed down $45 at $2,975 a tonne.
* Market weak in heavy volume but May contract stayed above the April 1 session low at $2,925, showing technical support - traders.
* Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo has not surrendered yet but has suggested he wants to do so and has requested United Nations protection - U.N. official.
* Emerging events in war-stricken Ivory Coast pressured the market as analysts widely expect it that mean exports, which have been banned for more than two months, will once again flow in the next few weeks.
* "It certainly should liberate some cocoa (supplies), but procedure-wise it may ta
* Market weak in heavy volume but May contract stayed above the April 1 session low at $2,925, showing technical support - traders.
* Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo has not surrendered yet but has suggested he wants to do so and has requested United Nations protection - U.N. official.
* Emerging events in war-stricken Ivory Coast pressured the market as analysts widely expect it that mean exports, which have been banned for more than two months, will once again flow in the next few weeks.
* "It certainly should liberate some cocoa (supplies), but procedure-wise it may ta
NY Coffee market close review for today, April 5, 2011
* May arabica coffee futures surged 12.20 cents or 4.8 percent at $2.6825 per lb.
* May surged higher after trade and fund short-covering pushed the market sharply and quickly higher - traders.
* A lack of producer hedging allowed the market to climb easily, with May trading in a wide 14-cent range - traders.
* Rally pushed the arabica premium over robusta to the highest since March 22 at more than $1.55 per lb - ICE data.
* Earlier action dominated by May/July spreading ahead of the spot contract's first notice day April 20 - traders.
* Total volume above 30,000 lots, highest since Feb 15 - preliminary Thomson Reuters data.
* Coffee exports from Guatemala fell 5.56 percent in March to 453,572 60-kg bags - Anacafe. *****
Kenya coffee prices ease this week, volume down
NAIROBI, April 5, 2011 - The top price of Kenya's benchmark grade AA coffee dropped to $434 per 50-kg bag at this week's sale from $467 per bag two weeks ago.
Last vweek's auction was cancelled due to a drop in the volumes voffered.
AA's bottom price fell to $300 per bag from $320 per bag, while its average price eased to $397.06 from $411.87 in the previous sale.
Cocoa production forecast in Ivory Coast seen falling in 2011/12
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas, - Cocoa production in top grower and war-stricken Ivory Coast will likely decrease over the next two years, leaving the rest of the producing nations to pick up the slack for global demand, Macquarie Bank's Kona Haque said on Saturday.
"Right now there's not a lot of incentive for farmers to tend to the midcrop (in Ivory Coast). They probably don't even have workers there," Haque said, while speaking on a panel at the Cocoa Merchants' Association of America conference in the Bahamas.
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