Côte d'Ivoire's Coffee and Cocoa Council regulator has sold 850,000 metric tonnes of cocoa export contracts for the coming 2025/26 season, one month ahead of its target, two sources at the CCC told Reuters on Thursday.

The sales, which cover export contracts for the October-to-March main harvest in the world's leading producer, put the CCC well on track to reach its eventual target of 1.3 million tonnes, the sources said, despite concerns about crop development.

In recent years, the CCC has reduced its forward sales target from the usual 1.7 million tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes to mitigate the risk of defaults as adverse weather and diseases hit output.

The CCC is maintaining that target for now despite July crop surveys indicating a high mortality rate of flowers and small pods known as cherelles due to excessive rainfall, which has led to some black pod disease in two regions that produce about 75% of the country's cocoa, one CCC source said.

Head start

It will reassess after further crop surveys in mid-August, the second source from the regulator said.

"We are not changing anything in our sales programme. We'll see at the beginning of August if the counts confirm the decline before making a decision," the second CCC source said.

"We have some leeway and can make a quick decision if we need to reduce our delivery sales by 50,000 or 100,000 tonnes," the source added.

July is critical for cocoa development as flowers and cherelles formed between April and June mature into pods for the main harvest. Excess rainfall during this period could threaten yields.

"We have a head start, which makes it easier to adjust if necessary," the second CCC source added.