Cocoa

The country’s cocoa exporters have struggled to meet rising demand overseas due to limited supply of the bean at home.

The Ministry of Trade maintained the cocoa export rate for February shipment at 5 percent, the same as in January.

The government projected the country’s cocoa production to rise by 5.69 percent this year to 1.34 million tons of dry beans from 1.07 million tons last year.

Four cocoa downstream players in Indonesia plan to increase production capacity, and have allocated expansion funds worth a combined US$80 million.

Indonesia’s cocoa output dropped by 58 percent to 240,000 tons in 2011 from 575,000 tons last year, said Chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Association (Askindo) Zulhefi Sikumbang.