ABIDJAN - Authorities in top cocoa producer Ivory Coast are considering abolishing auctions for international supply contracts next season amid a prolonged boycott by major trading houses, officials with the marketing board and government said. The Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC), Ivory Coast’s sector regulator, uses an electronic auction system to allow international firms not present in the country to purchase Ivorian cocoa. In an attempt to develop the domestic industry, the CCC last season gave domestic exporters exclusive control over those supply contracts, which typically account for 10 to 20 percent of national output. Major cocoa buyers have largely boycotted the 2015/16 international contracts however, arguing that local firms lack the necessary capacity and financing. “If the multinationals don’t want it and don’t use it, we are going to close this auction,” said a senior finance ministry source. He said a final decision on the future of the scheme would not be taken before the end of the year. “This year we should be selling 200,000 tonnes through the international messaging system, but we’ve only been able to sell between 20,000 and 40,000 tonnes,” said a CCC source, who also confirmed authorities were considering abandoning the system. He said a number of advantages given to local exporters appeared to have succeeded in making them competitive with international firms. Last season, the government granted local exporters tax breaks that amounted to an advantage over their international competitors of 74 CFA francs ($0.13) per kg of beans. Also, unlike international exporters, local operators are not required to show they have clients for the beans they purchase via the CCC’s normal forward sales system. As the boycott has worn on, domestic exporters have used these advantages to purchase around 230,000 tonnes of cocoa through normal forward sales, the source at the regulator said. “They already have off-takers, so we think that is the way forward,” he said. The potential cancellation of the international auction has divided local exporters. Large local exporters claim international firms have circumvented the international auctions by using local front companies to take advantage of the tax breaks. “They are just mailbox companies with no financing or experience and they sign contracts with exporters to kill the international contract auction,” said a member of the GNI, a grouping of six local exporters. Smaller exporters, however, say that the international auction is itself unfair in that it granted the vast majority of international contracts to the GNI. “I don’t see why we need to only privilege the international auction and allot 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes to a group of six individuals when there are more than 50 Ivorian exporters,” said the head of one small local export house. ($1 = 579.1600 CFA francs)