The move comes two days after farmers' leaders said they would block exports unless the government acted to stabilise the cocoa market and guarantee higher prices. The New Caistab was set up last year as part of a plan to liberalise Ivory Coast's cocoa and coffee sectors. It replaced the state-run price stabilisation board, the Caisse de Stabilisation, which controlled farm gate prices, profit margins and transport fares. The new regulator is a limited company, owned by cocoa and coffee producers, exporters and processors and financial institutions, although the government also holds a stake. However, Ivory Coast's liberalisation coincided with a sharp fall in prices of soft commodities, with benchmark cocoa and robusta coffee futures plunging to their lowest levels for almost a decade.
Farmers blame the low prices on the liberalisation.
Under the Caisse system, a large part of the Ivory Coast crop was sold forward on a quota system, guaranteeing prices for farmers. According to analysts, the fall in cocoa prices stems from oversupply on the world market and is not a direct result of Ivory Coast's liberalisation. Many agricultural markets have been suffering similar problems in the past few years. This week's threats by farmers to disrupt exports follows similar action last year, which included a nine-day port blockade in November and reports that some producers had protested against the New Caistab by publicly burning cocoa.