Heavy rains in the main growing regions affected bean quality and slowed down the evacuation of the chocolate-making ingredient to the main port cities of Lagos and Calabar.
While rainfall is good for the trees, it makes it difficult for farmers to ferment and dry beans and keep mould levels below a required maximum of 5 percent, industry experts said.
"Not much is happening in the market," commodity analyst Robo Adhuze told Reuters by telephone from Akure, capital of the southwestern state of Ondo, which accounts for around 40 percent of Nigeria's cocoa output.
"There is little stock on the trees but plenty of stock in the warehouses because buying and selling has been slow."
The Federal Produce Inspection Service (FPIS) data showed that on a monthly basis, cocoa shipments from the world's number 4 grower slumped 33 percent to 29,149 tonnes in December 2010 from 43,585 tonnes in the same month of the 2009/10 season.
Actual Nigerian shipments could be much higher than the FPIS figures because some exporters do not make full disclosure of their cargoes at the ports and some beans are smuggled to neighbouring countries.
The FPIS is the government agency that certifies cocoa and other farm produce as fit for export to Western and Asian markets.
RECOVERY ANTICIPATED
Data for the first two months of 2011 are not yet available, but industry experts said they expected shipments to recover with the advent of the dusty harmattan winds from the Sahara, which help dry cocoa beans.
The four months to January are traditionally the peak period for cocoa production in Nigeria.
Nigeria's cocoa exports fell 28 percent to 12,935 tonnes in October, the first month of the 2010/11 season but rebounded in November, rising 11 percent year-on-year to 30,647 tonnes.
Cocoa exports from Africa's number 3 grower have risen steadily in the last few years, climbing 31 percent to 215,135 tonnes in the 2009/10 season from 164,230 tonnes the previous year due partly to a decline in local grinding. [nLDE6AT1MB]
The Cocoa Association of Nigeria estimates Nigeria's cocoa output at around 300,000-350,000 tonnes a year, but government officials put the figure higher, at 400,000-450,000 tonnes.
Nigeria has been keen since 2005 to raise its annual output to over 600,000 tonnes to rival Ghana as the world's number two grower, but a cocoa revival programme launched nearly six years ago has had little success. Fellow West African grower Ivory Coast is the world's top cocoa producer.
Nigeria's production peaked at around 400,000 tonnes a year in the 1970s, but the sector was neglected as the oil industry grew. The cocoa industry's decline accelerated after deregulation in 1986, leaving farmers struggling to break even.
Following is a monthly breakdown of Nigerian cocoa exports in tonnes as obtained from the FPIS:
month -------2010/11 ------------ 2009/10
October -----12,935 - -------------18,039
November ---30,647 -------------- 27,637
December ---29,149 ---------------43,585 For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today
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