Nigerian Cocoa Exports Declined by 35% in October

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) --

Cocoa exports from Nigeria, the world’s fourth-biggest producer, fell 35 percent in October, the Federal Produce Inspection Service said.

Shipments fell to 12,935 metric tons from 19,830 tons a year earlier, spokesman Adekunle Adebambo said by phone today from Lagos, the commercial capital. Total cocoa-bean exports in the first 10 months of last year rose 13 percent to 140,537.5 tons from 124,663 tons a year earlier, he said.

Nigeria’s cocoa year is divided into two harvests. The main-crop harvest begins in October and ends in January, while the light-crop season, the smaller of the two, usually begins in March and ends in June.

The chocolate ingredient is Nigeria’s second-biggest foreign-exchange earner after crude oil, according to government statistics. Only the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia produce more cocoa, according to the International Cocoa Organization.

--Editors: John Deane, Alastair Reed

To contact the reporter on this story: Vincent Nwanma in Lagos via Accra at vnwanma@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.