COCOA EXPORTERS EXPECTED TO LIMIT SALES
Major cocoa exporters are likely to
limit sales in the weeks ahead in an effort to boost world
prices, sources close to a meeting of the Cocoa Producers
Alliance (CPA) said.
    The sources said the depressed world market had been one of
the main topics discussed in a closed door meeting of the
11-member CPA which began on Monday.
    They said producers agreed that cutting sales would aid the
buffer stock manager of a new international cocoa pact in his
effort to support prices.
    Major cocoa producing and consuming nations agreed
operation rules for the buffer stock at a meeting in London
last month and the stock manager is expected to enter the
market soon.
    Prices, under the weight of three successive cocoa
surpluses, recently fell to the level at which the manager has
to buy cocoa under stock rules.
    The buffer stock aims to keep prices within a pre-set range
by buying when prices fall and selling when they rise.
    "The world's cocoa price at present is just not interesting,"
commented one delegate representing a major CPA producer.
    Another source said that with much of the 1986/87
(October-September) world cocoa crop sold, limiting sales in
the near term concerns essentially next year's harvest.
    The sources noted, however, that the cocoa industry in
Brazil, the world's number two producer, is in private hands.
This means limiting sales is more difficult than in major West
African producers, where sales are made or authorized by
commodity marketing boards.
    The CPA includes the world's top three producers, Ivory
Coast, Brazil and Ghana, and accounts for 80 pct of all output.
    The meeting here is due to end tomorrow evening.
 Reuter
