Ghana sees 1999/2000 cocoa crop at 400-450,000T

08:23 a.m. Aug 06, 1999 Eastern

ACCRA, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Ghana expects its 1999/2000 cocoa crop (October-September) to total between 400,000 and 450,000 tonnes, up on this season's official crop forecast of 385,000 tonnes, an official at the state marketing board COCOBOD said.

``We estimate that production for next year will be between 400,000 to 450,000 tonnes,'' COCOBOD's Deputy Chief Executive, Daniel Adomako, told Reuters.

While some industry sources see a 1998/99 crop of over 400,000 tonnes, COCOBOD expects total output this season to be closer to 385,000 tonnes, including a mid-crop of around 50,000 tonnes.

On April 29, one day before the closure of the main crop season, COCOBOD's declared purchases stood at 339,295 tonnes --well below some analysts' estimates of 360-370,000 tonnes.

In an interview on Thursday, shortly after COCOBOD announced an early close of the mid-crop season, Adomako said that favourable rains did boost the mid-crop but not beyond 45,000 tonnes.

Industry sources saw a mid-crop of over 50,000 tonnes. They said up to 20,000 tonnes of low quality Ivorian mid-crop cocoa had been smuggled into Ghana. Adomako denied there had been large scale smuggling of Ivorian beans.

In the interview, Adomako said the mid-crop season had been closed one month earlier than usual because farmers had no more cocoa to sell.

``We normally monitor the availability of cocoa in the system and as now there is very little to nothing left so the closure is quite in order,'' he said.

Industry sources saw the early closure of the mid-crop season as an attempt to stop Ivorian cocoa coming in.

A Ghana-based cocoa crop analyst confirmed on Friday that there was little mid-crop cocoa left to be marketed.