Rain forecasts in Ivory Coast put pressure on cocoa prices

GEPEX published on Monday. Cocoa producers cited poor bean quality and a low crop in the middle belt. Weak demand for chocolate is also weighing on cocoa prices. Chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli AG in July cut its full-year margin forecast after a sharper-than-expected decline in chocolate sales in the first half of the year. Chocolate maker Barry Callebaut AG also cut its sales forecast for the second time in three months in July, citing high cocoa storage prices. The company is forecasting a decline in sales for the full year and reported a 9.5% drop in sales for the March-May period, the biggest quarterly decline in a decade. A coalition of Ghanaian cocoa farmers has threatened to bar officials from the national regulator from entering their farms in protest at a recently announced producer price for the upcoming season, which they say could lead to illegal smuggling into Ivory Coast and Togo. More than 300,000 farmers have expressed outrage over what they consider ...