... hurts Ivory Coast
Akati, Ivory Coast - The faint smell of cocoa lingers in the air over Akati, a farming town on the Ivorian border with Ghana where a dozen men huddle under a shade tree discussing their next illegal transaction.

"I'll buy your crop for 500 CFA francs per kilo," John, a Ghanaian trader, offers Ivorian farmer N'Dri.

"Your price is interesting," N'Dri muses slyly, eager to cement the deal.

This is the world of contraband cocoa trading across the still-peaceful 300-kilometre eastern Ivory Coast border with Ghana, where the beans that were once the staple of the Ivorian economy are fetching a price nearly double than they would at home.

With the economy of the world's top cocoa producer in tatters due to a 14-month political and military crisis that has divided it in two, cocoa growers are looking elsewhere to send their beans to ensure decent returns.

Since the cocoa-harvesting season began in September, some 50 000 tons - one-third of this year's crop - of Ivorian cocoa beans have been funnelled across the border to be processed into the products coveted by chocoholics worldwide.

A kilo of beans can fetch around 625 CFA francs in Ghana, compared to 385 CFA francs in Ivory Coast, whose cocoa-based economy was at one time envied across west Africa.

"It's bad, really bad!" laments Ivorian trader Simon Nango as he hangs over his computer. "All our cocoa is going to Ghana."

"Last year at this time, I had 1 000 tons in my shop, ready to send to port. These days I have trouble even putting together a 100-tonne shipment."

His concerns grow more pronounced as he watches the price of cocoa continue to plummet on the world market.

Prices saw a slight rebound from a 20-month low last month, with cocoa futures for December delivery climbing 1.7% to hit US$1 408 per tonne on the New York financial futures exchange after exporters suspended buying beans in Ivory Coast to reverse the slide.

In London the price of cocoa for March delivery fell to ?941 a ton on Thursday from ?954 the previous week.

On the New York futures market the March contract slid to $1 540 per ton from $1 554.

The campaign opened by the Ivory Coast in September for 2003/2004 sought to capitalise on its reputation for top quality, hoping to benefit, as Ghana did last year, from about 60 billion CFA francs in subsidies from international donors for its high-quality harvest.

Those premiums, however, will not be forthcoming if there are no quality beans, say local authorities worried about the extent of the smuggling in the Ivorian cocoa belt stretching from Aboisso in the south through Agnibelekrou by way of Abengourou.