Cocoa bean stocks from the main crop harvest are piling up in farm warehouses and at the West African country's export terminal since December due to a slump in demand from its principal export destinations in Europe, Asia and the United States.

Yves Brahima Kone said that chocolate consumption has dropped in the main markets, leading to a fall in the demand for cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate.

"After the first wave, everyone had hopes that trade would resume normally. We sold 80% of the harvest, then the second wave hit," Kone said in an interview on national television. "With the second wave, everything has slowed on the ground."

He added that a shortage of shipping containers due to disruption in global trade, has also impacted the country's ability to export its beans.

The demand slowdown has led to a pile-up of more than 100,000 tonnes of cocoa in farm warehouses, prompting some farmers to sell their beans below the guaranteed farm gate price.

Kone urged farmers to hold on to their beans for now.

Some exporters in Ivory Coast told Reuters on Monday that the implementation of the $400 a tonne Living Income Differential (LID) scheme was also partly to blame.

The $400 per tonne premium, which replaces an earlier proposal for a floor price for cocoa contracts, is part of a wider plan to combat poverty among farmers in Ivory Coast and Ghana, which together account for more than 60% of global supply.

The LID, aimed at tackling pervasive farmer poverty, was introduced at the start of the 2020/2021 cocoa season in October.

Chocolate makers have said they support efforts to relieve farmer poverty, but traders have said the plan could lead to surplus production and might eventually prompt them to seek other sources of supply.

"In reality, Ivory Coast cocoa is much too expensive compared to other origins since there is the LID of $400 per tonne and it is no longer the priority for manufacturers looking to save money in these times," a director of an Abidjan based cocoa exporting firm, who requested anonymity, said.

A director of another company, who also asked to remain anonymous, said that although the LID was a good initiative, its implementation should have been postponed.

"Now we see the consequences on Ivory Coast," he said.

(Writing by Bate Felix. Editing by Jane Merriman)

By Ange Aboa