Ivory Coast cocoa crop expected to be close to last season's, minister says

PARIS, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Cocoa production in Ivory Coast in the 2024/25 season is expected to remain around last season’s disappointing level after adverse weather and crop conditions continue, the country’s agriculture minister said. A sharp drop in output in Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest supplier of the chocolate ingredient and second-largest producer Ghana, in 2023/24 triggered a surge in international prices to record levels last year. “It’s the same trend,” Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani told Reuters on Monday about the outlook for 2024/25 production, adding that it was too early to give a firm forecast. The minister’s assessment was in line with a Reuters poll of analysts this month, which gave an average expectation of 1.80 million metric tonnes for 2024/25, down from 1.76 million in 2023/24. Echoing farmers’ comments, Adjoumani said recent rains had improved prospects for the April-September mid-season crop, which follows the country’s main crop from October to March. ...