Cocoa
shipments from Nigeria’s second-largest grower Cross Rivers halted this week
after merchants and the state government disagreed over the payment of an export
levy, the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN) said.
Godwin
Ukwu, spokesman for the association, said on Wednesday about 600 tonnes of
cocoa due for export had been delayed since Monday after the local government
refused to issue certificates to enable buyers ship the beans.
The
state government last Friday directed merchants to pay 20 naira ($0.1235) per
bag of cocoa (320 naira per tonne) in a levy to an account it listed in a
letter seen by Reuters, before they can could get export documents.
“Cocoa
has not moved since Monday because they (the government) have refused to give
us excavation papers,” Ukwu, whose association represents farmers, exporters
and buyers, told Reuters by telephone.
“If
we don’t shut down tomorrow the warehouses will be filled and it will be
difficult for us to continue to buy because there would be no more storage
space.”
Officials
from the state government were not immediately available to comment.
Cross
Rivers is the second-largest grower in Nigeria with annual volumes of around
60,000 tonnes, in the world’s fourth biggest cocoa producer. Cocoa exports from
Cross Rivers are usually destined for Europe.
Ukwu
said the levy was normally paid to the trade body without government
involvement, which was why merchants had refused to pay.
He
added that merchants planned to shut their warehouses in Ikom, one of the
biggest producing areas, which had around 2,000 tonnes of cocoa beans, on
Thursday due to the logjam, so as not to keep stockpiling products, until the
impasse was resolved.
Last
month, cocoa shipments from Cross Rivers were also halted due to a disagreement
over a levy imposed by the state government on exporters who did not use the
state port to ship their beans.
Businessday
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