Ecuador: Cocoa bean output up 13 percent in 2013

bloomberg.com reported…Ecuador, where the fatty beans used to make chocolate have been grown since pre-Columbian times, is surpassing Brazil as Latin America’s top cocoa producer after boosting planting and offering education programs for farmers. Cocoa-bean output rose 13 percent last year to 220,000 metric tons and the South American country is poised to become the world’s fourth-biggest producer by 2015, said Ivan Ontaneda, president of Ecuador’s National Cocoa Exporters Association, known as Anecacao. Read Article

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