LEADING COCOA PRODUCERS DISCUSS INTERNATIONAL PACT

  Leading cocoa producers will discuss
  whether newly-agreed rules on an international cocoa buffer
  stock will succeed in reversing a sharp fall in world prices
  when they start four day's of talks here later today,
  conference sources said.
      Another topic likely to be discussed at the twice-yearly
  meeting of the Cocoa Producer Alliance (CPA) is the pact's
  second line of market support -- a witholding scheme under
  which exporters can take up to 120,000 tonnes of cocoa off the
  market if buffer stock purchases fail to defend prices.
      The International Cocoa Organisation is due to discuss the
  scheme at a meeting in June, and exporters could use the
  Yaounde talks to work out a common position on the issue, the
  sources said.
      Delegates will also be briefed on arrangements for an
  international cocoa research conference due to take place in
  Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic next month, CPA
  secretary general D.S. Kamga said.
      The 11-member CPA include the world's top three producers
  of Ivory Coast, Brazil and Ghana and accounts for around 80 pct
  of world output.
  

