RI cocoa bean output up

RI cocoa bean output up

PHUKET, Thailand (Reuters): Indonesian cocoa bean production is expected to rise to 450,000 metric tons annually by 2005 from around 325,000 tons now, a senior official of the Indonesia Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI) said on Wednesday.

Surip Mawardi, ICCRI associate director, told a cocoa and chocolate conference in this southern Thai resort island that higher local prices resulting from the weak rupiah encouraged cocoa planters to raise output.

Indonesia is now the world's third largest producer of cocoa beans after Ivory Coast and Ghana.

"Some limited spontaneous new plantings by small holders are estimated. They are encouraged by the high local prices of cocoa beans, in particular in Sulawesi, Maluku and Irian, but not in Java," Mawardi said.

"The (production) trend is going up. Indonesia will play an important role in world cocoa supply for its quantity as well as continuity," he added.