ICCO expects higher cocoa deficit

The international cocoa organisation ICCO expects the cocoa deficit to be 55% higher than originally forecast. The shortfall is now estimated to be 242,000 tonnes, compared with the earlier projected figure of 156,000 tonnes. The higher deficit is said to be due to poorer harvests caused by adverse weather, which especially affected western Africa – the world s main cocoa growing region. Harvests in Asia were also down by approximately 8%. Worldwide consumption of cocoa, measured by grindings of cocoa beans, has risen annually by 3.8% over the past few years, and by 2.5% over the 2006/2007 period.