That compares with 1,000 CFA francs a kilogram in Ivory Coast, where the price is fixed and guaranteed throughout the year. Global cocoa prices have hit record highs in recent months amid worries about a bean deficit this season and with concerns growing for the next. Ivory Coast and neighbouring Ghana, the world's second biggest producer, have said smuggling hampers their effort to meet their yearly production target. "This year, despite the high price in both countries compared to Ivory Coast, there is less leakage... People are really finding it hard to get cocoa out of Ivory Coast," said Abel Gbale, a cocoa buyer in Danane, the country's last major town before the borders with Liberia and Guinea. Amadou Konate, a cocoa buyer based in Man, the main city in western Ivory Coast, said cocoa producers earn nothing from smuggling and the middlemen pocket all the money.

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Persons: Ivory Coast's, Yves Brahima Kone, Kone, Abel Gbale, Amadou Konate, Ange Aboa, Anait Miridzhanian, Bate Felix, Frances Kerry Organizations: Ivory, Cocoa Council, CFA, Reuters Locations: ABIDJAN, Guinea, West African, Liberia, Ivory Coast's, Ivory Coast, Sipilou, Ghana, Danane