Ivorian cocoa strike not hitting arrivals: shippers

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Cocoa deliveries to ports in top global grower Ivory Coast continued as normal on Tuesday despite a major growers' union having called for a strike at the start of the week, shippers said.

The union, which represents a third of the 2,000 cooperatives in the world's biggest grower, said it wanted to block all cocoa deliveries as a protest against what it says is insufficient governmental support for the industry.

Markets are acutely sensitive to signs of disruption to supply in Ivory Coast, where harvests are in a long-term decline that analysts say can only be arrested by serious reforms.

"We received a fax yesterday (Monday) from the unions saying there are on strike and telling us to close our factories," said the chief executive of an exporting form in San Pedro.

"We're continuing to work as normal. We've not seen anything resembling a strike on the ground. Everything is normal."

Between 50,000 and 60,000 tonnes of cocoa are expected to arrive at ports this week, exporters said, up from an estimated 43,000 tonnes between October 12 and October 18.

"I've been in Daloa since Monday but I've seen no obstruction of cocoa or blockages of vehicles heading to ports," said the purchasing manager with another international firm, referring to a majoor cocoa-growing region.

Growers argue the government does not do enough to help the cocoa industry, the West African state's biggest export earner.

Farmers have long said comparatively high taxes on their cocoa are a disincentive to cultivation, and that they do not see the benefit of elevated world prices.