Credit: REUTERS/ANGE ABOAACCRA, June 28 (Reuters) - Ghana is struggling to hit its cocoa export sales targets for the 2021/2022 season, with sales at the end of last week totalling around 350,000 tonnes-worth of export contracts, two sources at the cocoa regulator said on Monday.
"The goal for us is to be able to sell at least 600,000 tonnes and I think that's possible with a good differential, so we're not worried," a source at the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) told Reuters.
Ghana and neighbour Ivory Coast, the world's two top cocoa producers accounting for more than 60% of global output are battling to make chocolate makers pay the right premium for their beans as they forward sell contracts before the start of the season in October.
The sales will enable them set a farmgate price for farmers.
Both introduced a $400-per-tonne farmers premium on beans, known as the Living Income Differential (LID) last season to help curb farmer poverty. Additionally, exporters are expected to pay a country premium or differential of up to 300 pounds sterling for the quality of Ghanaian beans.
But they have been locked in protracted talks with buyers who are asking for discounts on the country premium due to sluggish chocolate sales because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a bumper crop.
Last week's sales of Ghanaian cocoa contracts included negative differentials between of 100 and 130 pounds sterling per tonne, another source at COCOBOD said.
Among last week's sales was a contract with agri-business giant Olam OLAM.SI for 50,000 tonnes of cocoa, the COCOBOD source said, bringing the Singapore-based company's total export contract purchases in Ghana to 100,000 tonnes for the season.
Olam could not be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Ange Aboa Writing by Cooper Inveen Editing by Bate Felix and David Evans)
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