- Title: IVORY COAST: VIOLENCE COMPOUNDS PROBLEMS FOR THE CRISIS-RIDDEN COCOA INDUSTRY
- Date: 16th November 2004
- Summary: (W1) VARIOUS LOCATIONS, IVORY COAST (RECENT) (REUTERS) 1. SLV PEOPLE SHELTERING AND RUNNING AWAY FROM FIGHTING; MV WOUNDED CIVILIANS 0.14 2. SLV GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS CONTROLLING THE CROWD; SLV GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS ON TANKS 0.23 3. MV REBELS HOLDING GUNS; SLV REBEL TERRITORY 0.41 4. SLV FRENCH SOLDIERS 0.48 5. MV SOUTH AFRICA PRESIDENT THABO MBEKI ARRIVES IN IVORY COAST; MV GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WELCOMING SOUTH AFRICA PRESIDENT 0.58 6. SLV CIVILIANS ON STREET; MEN UNLOADING TRUCK 1.12 7. TRACKING SHOT CELESTIN KOUAME, COCOA FARMER AT COCOA PLANTATION; SLV HARVESTING OF COCOA IN COCOA PLANTATION; COCOA BEING PROCESSED 1.51 8. (SOUNDBITE) (French) CELESTIN KOUAME, COCOA FARMER, SAYING: "Before the war, cocoa was more lucrative. But now there's so much dissatisfaction in the industry and production has suffered. We don't have the same urge to maintain our plantations as we used to because we ask ourselves what for? And if things carry on the way they are, production will continue to go down." 2.14 9. MV WOMEN LOADING COCOA INTO BASKETS; MV/SLV WORK AT SAF DEPOT FOR COCOA STORAGE 3.24 10. (SOUNDBITE) (French) ALI LAKISS, MANAGER, SAF CACAO, SAYING: "We just don't understand how people can sell a bar of chocolate for a dollar eighty, even though the whole bar doesn't weigh more than a hundred and fifty grammes. But for a whole kilo of our cocoa, they only give us fifty-five cents." 3.41 11. MV COCOA BEING OFF LOADED FROM A TRUCK; SCU OFFICIAL CHECKING MOISTURE LEVEL OF COCOA 4.02 12. SLV PROTESTERS BURNING SACKS OF COCOA 4.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 1st December 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ABIDJAN, BOUAKE, LOUKOUKRO, OURAGAHIO AND SAN PEDRO, IVORY COAST
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Reuters ID: LVA3JSYU4JF3V8HVUC75O0IKBQTZ
- Story Text: Violence in Ivory Coast compounds problems for the
crisis-ridden cocoa industry.
Violence in the Ivory Coast is threatening the
country's vital cocoa exports.
The industry was in crisis before the government forces
launched an attack on rebel enclaves in the north of the
country. The bombing of a French military base led to
France destroying the government airforce and riots and
looting broke out across the country.
That outbreak, which has seen African leaders attempt
to intervene, has compounded the cocoa crisis.
In October, farmers staged a nationwide strike, which
continued on and off until less than two weeks ago.
Farmers wanted the government to fix the price per kilo
at around one US dollar - about half the price that it
fetches on trading floors around the world.
Instead the government issued a recommended price of
just seventy-five cents per kilo. The farmers were
outraged. They began burning their cocoa in protest.
Two hundred kilometres away in the south-western town
of Loukoukro, life seems a world away from the troubles of
Abidjan.
But the violence in the country doesn't just affect
those caught in the crossfire - but also people who live
far from the fighting, like Celestin Kouame.
Thiry-four-year-old Celestin is one of over 600,000
small-scale cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast and the country
is the world's biggest cocoa producer, accounting for forty
percent of the world's supply. This week, cocoa prices
soared as a result of the violence.
But farmers like Celestin have seen prices rise and
fall many times since Ivory Coast's crisis first pushed up
prices in 2002. He says that overall, he has suffered from
the price fluctuations more than he's profited.
"Before the war, cocoa was more lucrative. But now
there's so much dissatisfaction in the industry and
production has suffered. We don't have the same urge to
maintain our plantations as we used to because we ask
ourselves what for? And if things carry on the way they
are, production will continue to go down," he said.
The recent violence brought business to a standstill.
Cocoa depots remained closed and activities were paralysed
for several days.
While prices shot up across the world, farmers have had
to watch as stockpiles just sat. And if they sit much
longer, they'll rot.
Until 1998, the price of cocoa was regulated by the
Ivorian government. Since then, they've been determined by
the market.
But the farmers don't necessarily benefit when the
price of cocoa goes up globally. The reason is that they
can't store cocoa for very long before mould and damp set
in. So if they don't sell fast enough, their produce rots
and is worth nothing.
SAF Cacao is a cocoa producing company in the town of
San Pedro, Ivory Coast's second largest port, which is
surrounded by cocoa plantations.
There's a lot of frustration here at the profits that
are being made elsewhere on the soaring price of cocoa,
according to Ali Lakiss, a manager at SAF CACAO.
"We just don't understand how people can sell a bar of
chocolate for a dollar eighty, even though the whole bar
doesn't weigh more than a hundred and fifty grammes. But
for a whole kilo of our cocoa, they only give us fifty-five
cents," he said.
Most farmers in Ivory Coast are members of
co-operatives, who help them ensure that their cocoa meets
international standards, and also sell the cocoa.
The President of Ivory Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Bourse
has called for peace to help the farmers sell their crops.
But for farmers like Celestin, the Bourse is part of
the problem, not the solution. For now, Celestin's biggest
worry will be to find a buyer for this harvest in spite of
the recent standstill in exports.
Even if he does find a buyer Celestin certainly won't
be the one to taste the sweet profit of cocoa's high
prices.
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