The Ministry of Trade maintained the cocoa export rate for February shipment at 5 percent, the same as in January.
Director General of International Trade at the ministry Deddy Saleh said that the base price for cocoa beans exports was reduced to US$1,918 per ton from $1,962 per ton.
Cocoa seed exports from Indonesia has continued to decline since the adoption of higher export tax, reaching an all time high at 15 percent on April 2011.
Indonesia exported around 207,000 tons of cocoa seeds in 2011, more than half of the recorded 430,000 tons of exports in the previous year. Export of processed cocoa, nevertheless, has doubled at 103.4 percent to around 42,700 tons between January and May 2011 compared to the same period in 2010.(rei-eaz)
