Brazil imports Indonesian cocoa

Brazil imports Indonesian cocoa

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters): Brazil recently imported some 12,000
tons of Indonesian cocoa beans, its first cocoa purchase since
October and likely to be the last for the current crop in the key
state of Bahia, industry sources said Thursday.

Shortly before the Christmas holiday break, a vessel unloaded
around 3,000 tons of Indonesian beans in the port of Ilheus, said
an official from the Bahia Commercial Association.

"There's a lot of bureaucracy and it hasn't got through
customs yet, which will probably happen late next week," said
Thomas Hartmann. This was the reason why the imports had yet to
appear on cocoa arrivals data for Bahia, he added.

"Since it (the cocoa) hasn't entered the warehouses, they
haven't declared it yet," he told Reuters.

According to Association data, cumulative cocoa arrivals from
May 1997 in Bahia from other nations reached 248,508 60-kg bags
by Jan. 4, equivalent to 14,910 tons.

A second vessel carrying a further 9,000 tons of Indonesian
cocoa had now docked in the port and would probably start to
unload its cargo Thursday or Friday, he said.

Local news sources said the ship docked at Ilheus was the
Liberian-flagged vessel Hopwell, which arrived at the port to be
fumigated before the start of unloading.

All the cocoa imported by Brazil so far has come from
Indonesia, the only producing country which is currently cleared
by the Agriculture Ministry.

A supply shortage during the mid-crop, which runs from May to
September, forced producers to authorize up to 15,000 tons of
imports. The main cocoa crop runs from October to April.

Brazil last imported cocoa in October, Hartmann said. "That
will probably be it for the current Bahia crop," he said.

Brazil, formerly the world's second largest cocoa producer,
has seen its status eroded in recent years after the witch's
broom fungus, for which no cure has yet been found, ravaged the
crop in the key growing state of Bahia.

Many Bahia farmers chose to abandon the production of cocoa
and deforested their land to use it to grow other crops, or sold
it for cattle grazing. Brazil was then forced to import cocoa.

In October, the government cocoa institute Ceplac launched a
project to build a "clonal garden" turning out varieties of cocoa
which can resist witch's broom.