COCOA EXPORTERS EXPECTED TO LIMIT SALES
  Major cocoa exporters are likely to
  limit sales in the weeks ahead in an effort to boost world
  prices, sources close to a meeting of the Cocoa Producers
  Alliance (CPA) said.
      The sources said the depressed world market had been one of
  the main topics discussed in a closed door meeting of the
  11-member CPA which began on Monday.
      They said producers agreed that cutting sales would aid the
  buffer stock manager of a new international cocoa pact in his
  effort to support prices.
      Major cocoa producing and consuming nations agreed
  operation rules for the buffer stock at a meeting in London
  last month and the stock manager is expected to enter the
  market soon.
      Prices, under the weight of three successive cocoa
  surpluses, recently fell to the level at which the manager has
  to buy cocoa under stock rules.
      The buffer stock aims to keep prices within a pre-set range
  by buying when prices fall and selling when they rise.
      "The world's cocoa price at present is just not interesting,"
  commented one delegate representing a major CPA producer.
      Another source said that with much of the 1986/87
  (October-September) world cocoa crop sold, limiting sales in
  the near term concerns essentially next year's harvest.
      The sources noted, however, that the cocoa industry in
  Brazil, the world's number two producer, is in private hands.
  This means limiting sales is more difficult than in major West
  African producers, where sales are made or authorized by
  commodity marketing boards.
      The CPA includes the world's top three producers, Ivory
  Coast, Brazil and Ghana, and accounts for 80 pct of all output.
      The meeting here is due to end tomorrow evening.
  

