Cocoa traders are shutting down operations in Ivory Coast, in accordance with calls by the country’s internationally recognised president-elect to put pressure on Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent who has refused to step down.
Cocoa prices rose as much as 7.5 per cent in London on Monday after companies including Cargill, the world’s largest cocoa buyer, said they had stopped buying cocoa in Ivory Coast, whose exports account for 40 per cent of global cocoa supplies and are worth $4.5bn annually at current prices.
Alassane Ouattara, acknowledged by the UN as the victor in the recent disputed presidential election, sent a letter to leading cocoa exporters on Sunday ordering them to stop overseas shipments until February 23.