Chocolate Wars

Unrest blocks Ivory Coast cocoa.  We are in serious trouble.

Shipments of cocoa from Ivory Coast, the world's biggest producer, remain blocked following three days of unrest. The country's two ports were shut down on Monday, after a ceasefire broke down and French bombing of the country's air force sparked rioting. A lull on Tuesday brought cocoa prices in London down 6% to UKP 953 a tonne, having leapt the day before. But makeshift roadblocks and troops on the streets in the capital Abidjan mean the cocoa industry remains in limbo. Workers have stayed at home and away from the country's two ports, in Abidjan and San Pedro. "There is no point buying cocoa if we can't export it... We are hoping to start to work between now and the end of the week if things get back to normal," said one Abidjan-based exporter. According to Reuters, fighting in the major cocoa-producing town of Gagnoa between residents and farmers has triggered a dawn-to-dusk curfew.

Stockpile chocolate now!  Download Mozilla Firefox 1.0!  Eat your greens!