Cocoa bean arrivals to San Pedro, one of Ivory Coast’s two main ports, were blocked last week after dock workers refused to offload trucks as part of an ongoing strike impacting the industry ahead of peak main crop harvests, exporters said on Tuesday.
The strike started on Oct. 24 and was suspended for three days before resuming on Oct. 31.
No cocoa was delivered to San Pedro between Oct. 31 and Nov. 6 because of the strike, compared to 42,000 tonnes during the same period last year.
It is unfolding in the run-up to bumper harvests from the October-to-March main crop in the world’s top cocoa producer.
The second main port of Abidjan is not affected.
Dockers in charge of unloading packaged cocoa beans from trucks are asking exporters to increase their pay to 105 CFA francs ($0.1598) per bag, up from 30 CFA francs.
They rejected an offer of 50 CFA francs per bag on Tuesday.
“Only smaller exporters offered this increase whereas bigger companies that have large volume have not made any offers, so we will not return to work,” Amidou Sylla, one of the movement leaders, told Reuters.
Exporters said they feared the backlog could degrade bean quality as cocoa bags have spent days on trucks, with nothing to protect them from heat and rain.
“The timing is not ideal. November and December are the peak of activity for us,” said an exporter in San Pedro who did not wish to be named.
Another exporter in Abidjan who also has a factory in San Pedro said his business was now two weeks behind its plans.
“We are forced to bring everything to Abidjan and we are starting to run out of space to work correctly,” he said.
A source at Ivory Coast’s Coffee and Cocoa Council said the regulator was concerned about the situation and seeking a solution that would satisfy all parties.
