Yaounde, July 24 - Cameroon exported 173,992 tonnes of cocoa beans in the first 11 months of the 2008/09 season, up 9.6 percent on the same period last year, National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB) figures showed on Friday.
The data, which was confirmed by the Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Board (CCIB), showed that Cameroon exported 4,635 tonnes of beans in June compared to 3,681 tonnes in May.
Last month's figures were revised slightly up from 3,627 tonnes but complaints that disease was hurting the tail end of the crop in the world's No. 5 producer continued.
"The June exports should have been much higher except for the black pod disease that affected output in the Centre and South regions," said NCCB director of statistics Gerard Ngubi.
The spread of black pod disease in the Centre region has forced farmers there to cut forecasts for the mid crop by 10-20 percent.
Andre Marie Lema, chief of operations at the CCIB, also blamed the lower than expected export volumes last month on frequent landslides on the Kumba-Mamfe road that hampered trucks from ferrying cocoa from some parts of the South-West.
Sole local grinder SIC-CACAOS, a subsidiary of Swiss firm Barry Callebaut, didn't buy any beans in June but its purchases since the beginning of the season stood at 25,117 tonnes at end- April, according to the NCCB.
Combined bean exports and grinding volumes bring production for the current campaign to 199,109 tonnes, 11,576 tonnes more than the record production in 2007/2008 and nearing the target of 200,000 tonnes set for this year.
Cameroon's cocoa season runs from August 1 through to July 31 every year, with the mid-crop harvest from late April/early May to late June/early July.