NewsWhore
12-18-2009, 01:30 PM
International cacao prices have reached a 32-year high, but the Dominican Republic does not have a bean to sell.
The price reached US$3,582 a ton for May delivery. This is the second highest level since October 1977, and is a 20% increase just this year. The president of the National Federation of Cacao Growers (Conacado) Isidoro de la Rosa attributed the lack of any reserve crop for sale to a "lack of economic liquidity".
Cacao is a two-cycle crop with winter and spring harvests. On average, the Dominican harvest totals 50,000 tons. The winter harvest brings in about 10,000 tons and the spring harvest nearly 40,000 tons. However, this year the winter harvest is down, which de la Rosa says might be due to the very large harvest the year before. He added that if "there is no long dry spell in January, the crop will come back."
El Caribe reports that the Ministry of Agriculture's figures are at odds with the federation. According to sources at the ministry, this year's winter harvest is a record crop, especially the part that will be exported. In October, the minister said that the country would close out 2009 with a production of 60,000 tons of cacao.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)
The price reached US$3,582 a ton for May delivery. This is the second highest level since October 1977, and is a 20% increase just this year. The president of the National Federation of Cacao Growers (Conacado) Isidoro de la Rosa attributed the lack of any reserve crop for sale to a "lack of economic liquidity".
Cacao is a two-cycle crop with winter and spring harvests. On average, the Dominican harvest totals 50,000 tons. The winter harvest brings in about 10,000 tons and the spring harvest nearly 40,000 tons. However, this year the winter harvest is down, which de la Rosa says might be due to the very large harvest the year before. He added that if "there is no long dry spell in January, the crop will come back."
El Caribe reports that the Ministry of Agriculture's figures are at odds with the federation. According to sources at the ministry, this year's winter harvest is a record crop, especially the part that will be exported. In October, the minister said that the country would close out 2009 with a production of 60,000 tons of cacao.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)