COMMODITY PRICE INDEX

COMMODITY PRICE INDEX Cocoa prices fell again this week after farmers in Côte d'Ivoire, the world's biggest cocoa producer, called off their threat to blockade ports and warehouses to protest at low prices. In November farmers burned cocoa beans during a nine-day blockade. Farmgate prices have fallen by half since the industry was deregulated in August as a condition for the country obtaining IMF loans. A new price-stabilisation system will not be ready until next season. The cocoa market has long been depressed by over-supply. Prices in London have dropped by half in 1999, dipping to a 7 1/2-year low in November. But Côte d'Ivoire's output may fall this season: yields are down and some crops have been abandoned.