Abidjan, June 24 - Ivory Coast's mid crop cocoa harvest may be as small as 240,000 tonnes, down from 320,000 tonnes last year, as a result of damage caused by unusually heavy rains, exporters and analysts said on Wednesday.
The high rainfall that coastal and eastern cocoa growing regions of the world's top grower have received this month has focused market attention on the April-September phase of what had already been a disrupted season.
Initial forecasts for a mid crop harvest of 275,000 tonnes have been scaled back to 240,000 tonnes because of the rain damage, which has led to up to 40 percent of beans being rejected by exporters.
Heavy rain was damaging the flowers and young pods that should develop for harvest later in the season, an Abidjan-based exporter said.
"A large majority of the flowers that came out in large numbers in recent weeks have fallen and the pods are waterlogged," he said.
"We had high hopes when we saw all the flowers in the plantations in the west and southwest, but right now those have turned to disappointment. We can expect to produce less than 275,000 tonnes with arrivals at less than 200,000 tonnes."
Farmers in key growing regions have said heavy rains and insufficient sunshine could not only reduce the size of the mid crop but also damage the quality of beans already harvested.
The rains have made the muddy routes of the interior impassible for trucks, meaning that cocoa beans are stuck in the bush and at greater risk of deterioration in the humid environment.
Figures showed around 9,000 tonnes of beans were delivered to the West African state's two ports between June 15 and June 21, down from 12,509 tonnes in the same week a year ago.
"The volumes are falling every week in contrast to last year," said another European exporter in Abidjan, pointing out that the low quality of beans being received meant they would do nothing to increase the arrivals figures.
"Then later on, there will not be enough cocoa pods to supply the ports."
Benchmark cocoa futures for delivery in September <LCCU9> traded at 1,582 pounds per tonne in London on Wednesday, a slight rebound from Monday's decline to a six-month low.
Cocoa industry operators said they expected arrivals to total about 50,000 tonnes in July and 30,000 tonnes in August while September figures would depend on the development of the mid crop over July and August.
"All depends on September," said one shipper in the port of San Pedro. "If the harvest starts early enough in that period we could still have more than 200,000 tonnes."