By Obafemi Oredein

Special to Dow Jones Newswires


IBADAN, Nigeria-Cocoa marketing is slowing in Nigeria's southern Cross River state as farmers and exporters are failing to agree on the price of beans, traders said Wednesday.

"Almost all people in the cocoa trade are working on old contracts, no company has given a new price for cocoa now," said Sayina Riman, a former president of the Cocoa Association of Nigeria and now a cocoa merchant.

Cross River is Nigeria's second-largest cocoa-producing state and several international and local cocoa-buying and exporting companies operate there.

Cocoa prices have risen "astronomically" in the state due to the depreciation of the Nigerian Naira and a shortage of the main cocoa crop, traders said.

Last week, graded cocoa--which has been certified as fit for export--traded in Cross River at 7.8 million naira ($4,783) a metric ton, Riman said.

Cocoa trading slowed in the state at the end of January as farmers and exporters disagreed on prices, a trader said, adding that exporters were cautious at buying at higher prices that might not be profitable for them in the international market.

"It is the second time in a month that trading will be hindered due to high prices of cocoa in Cross River state," he said.


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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-28-24 1024ET