date:Aug 29, 2014
Ecuador, already the worlds biggest grower of flavoured beans used in fine chocolate, is poised to extend its lead over Brazil as the top cocoa producer in the Americas as exporters forecast a record harvest.
Cocoa output probably will rise about 9 per cent to 240,000 metric tons in 2014 on government assistance programs, new plantings and as concern eases that the El Nio weather phenomenon would curb yields, according to Ivan Ontaneda, president of Ecuadors National Cocoa Exporters Association