Ebola travel bans threaten Ivory Coast cocoa crop forecasts

By Ange Aboa ABIDJAN (Reuters) - International cocoa exporters in Ivory Coast are restricting staff movements due to the worsening Ebola outbreak on the top grower's western borders, risking leaving traders and exporters without accurate output forecasts for the upcoming season. Ivory Coast produced nearly 1.45 million tonnes of cocoa last season, according to International Cocoa Organization estimates, almost 37 percent of world supply. The epidemic in West Africa - the worst since the disease was first discovered in 1976 - has killed at least 1,427 people since it was first identified in March in Guinea, Ivory Coast's northwestern neighbor. It has since crossed into Sierra Leone and Liberia, which is separated from some of Ivory Coast's most productive growing regions by the Cavally River.



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