Ghana likely to miss cocoa purchases target

Ghana's cocoa purchases for 2014/15 crop year are below 700,000 and are unlikely to meet the government's revised full season target of 750,000 given that the period will end in mid-September, industry sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

Industry regulator Cocobod said at the start of the season last October that Ghana, the world's second biggest cocoa exporter, would produce more than 1 million tonnes but revised the target given problems with weather and crop disease.

Cocobod has extended this year's main crop-buying period in frantic efforts to boost output, which is currently down 23 percent on the 2013/14 season when the West African country produced 900,000 tonnes of cocoa.

"Cocobod cannot meet its revised target for this year," a senior government source told Reuters.

"They are expecting an average of 5,000 tonnes a week until the end of the season," another source said.

The regulator last Friday asked buyers to begin preparations for the closure of the crop year in mid-September, to be followed by an early opening of the 2015/16 main crop, which normally begins in early October.