Amid harvest news, cocoa price in southwestern Nigeria has continued to fall and farmers were selling at 150,000 naira (1,128 US dollars) a ton Saturday, buyers said.

A fortnight ago, Cocoa prices were about 190,000 naira (1,429 dollars) a ton but came down to 160,000 naira (1,203 dollars) last week.

"There is a transition from main crop to the midcrop cocoa going on in the market. This is mainly responsible for the sharp fall in prices in the past two weeks, " Akinsola Kufoniyi, a trader at a local cocoa trading and exporting firm in Akure, capital of western Ondo state, told Xinhua.

Kufoniyi said prices have been falling because the midcrop cocoa harvested April to August is smaller in size than the bigger main crop.

Harvesting of the 2004-05 main crop which began in October finished in February in the southwest cocoa belt while its marketing also ended in the middle of last month.

The trader said farmers in the belt began harvesting the midcrop in a trickle late last month but its volume is improving thanks for the fairly good rainfall in the belt in February and last month.

Kufoniyi said Ondo and Ekiti states, two key cocoa-producing states in the southwest received more heavy rainfall last weekend but the other states of Ogun, Oyo and Osun have not had good downpours since the beginning of April.

"We are optimistic that the 2004-2005 midcrop cocoa will be substantial because we are moving to the rainy season which runs in the belt from May to October. The crop will further develop due to the moisture from the regular rainfall expected from May," Bisi Omoyemi, another buyer in Ile-Ife, Osun state, said.

He said cocoa price has also dropped to 150,000 naira in the state, the third largest producer in the country after Ondo and southeast Cross River state.

"The midcrop harvest is picking up and more cocoa is getting to the market while the quality remains good," the buyer said.

Buyers contacted in Ogun, Oyo and Ekiti said cocoa price has also dropped to the same price in these states.

The southwest cocoa belt accounts for 70 percent of Nigeria's annual output of 242,000 tons.

Source: Xinhua