Singapore, June 19 - More than 60 percent of cocoa plantations in Indonesia's main growing island of Sulawesi have been infected with a deadly fungal disease, which threatens output and affects quality, industry officials said on Thursday.
Vascular-streak dieback (VSD) attacks leaves, branches and trunks and was spreading rapidly in the provinces of South, Central and Southeast Sulawesi which account for 75 percent of Indonesia's cocoa output, they said.
"I believe more than 60 percent of plantations in Sulawesi have been affected by the VSD. This is scary. Definitely output will be below 500,000 tonnes this year," said Halim Razak, chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Association.
Indonesia, the world's third-largest cocoa producer after Ivory Coast and Ghana, produced 520,000 tonnes of beans in 2007. Cocoa plantations in Sulawesi cover 800,000 hectares.
"We've been hearing a lot more of the VSD and the quality has not been very good. I guess output below 500,000 tonnes is very well possible," said a dealer in Singapore.