Yaounde, Oct 16 - Cocoa prices have remained high in Cameroon over the past month, falling only slightly despite increasing supply as the harvest gets into full swing in all three major growing areas, farmers and buyers said this week.
"We are almost entering the peak of the harvesting season, with growing supply of beans on the market," Joseph Nde, manager of Cameroon Marketing Commodities (CAMACO), told Reuters. He spoke by phone from Kumba, the main trading centre in South-West province, which produces around half Cameroon's cocoa crop.
"But despite this increasing supply, prices continue to be high, ranging from 970 to 1,000 CFA francs ($2.02-$2.09) per kg, down from 990-1,025 FCA/kg last month," he said.
Cameroon, the world's fifth biggest cocoa grower, harvested 187,355 tonnes in the 2007/08 season that finished at the end of July, up from 183,297 tonnes the previous season.
In Mamfe, 170 km (106 miles) north of Kumba, cocoa beans were selling at 950-970 CFA francs per kg, slightly down from 1,000 CFA francs last month.
"These prices are still very good for us, but our problem remains the very bad roads which are hampering transportation of produce from rural areas to town," said Dickson Tambe, manager of the Mamfe Central Area Cooperative Union (MACECOOP).
Farm-gate prices in the major growing areas of Cameroon have held up despite a fall of almost one-third in benchmark U.S. cocoa futures <CCc2> after hitting a 28-year high of $3,290/tonne in July.
Continuing firm prices were discouraging smuggling of cocoa over the border to Nigeria, the world's fourth biggest cocoa producer, an activity which occurs as farmers and merchants seek to maximise their profit margins.
Traders in Nigeria's southeastern port of Calabar, which is near the Cameroon border and handles 15-20 percent of Nigeria's cocoa crop, said in September operations had slowed in the previous two months as exporters were put off by high port charges in Calabar.
POOR ROADS
Poor roads in Centre Province, which produces about 30-35 percent of output, and South Province, with 10-15 percent of production, meant farmers deep in the bush were receiving lower prices for their beans, growers said.
Prices in South Province fell more than in other areas, to 700-800 CFA/kg. Last month prices were as low as 780 CFA/kg in rural areas but as high as 1,005 CFA/kg in urban areas.
Cameroon's cocoa marketing regulations provide for regular markets in towns and villages to encourage competition between buyers. But they rarely happen, forcing farmers to sell to travelling merchants or take their cocoa to town.
In Centre Province, some buyers had hired motorcycle riders to go and buy cocoa in inaccessible areas, farmer Emmanuel Nnogo Akolo told Reuters from Emana, 70 km north of Yaounde.
That meant merchants were able to buy cocoa more cheaply, especially in September-October when farmers need money to pay their children's school enrolment for the new academic year.
Prices in Emana were stable at 980-1,000 CFA francs/kg.
In Bafia, in Centre Province, 135 km north of the capital Yaounde, farmer Emmanuel Nguile said prices had remained stable at 1,025 -1,075 CFA francs per kg, despite increasing supply.