Exports of cocoa beans in 2004 from Indonesia's key growing region of Sulawesi island, via Makassar port, amounted to 181,524 tonnes, up around four percent year-on-year, data from the Indonesian Cocoa Association showed on Thursday. December exports plunged to 4,615 tonnes against 18,224 tonnes in the same period a year earlier due to poor bean quality from the mid-crop harvest.

Indonesia is the world's third-largest cocoa producer. Sulawesi accounts for 75 percent of the country's output.

Indonesia targeted cocoa output of 375,000 tonnes in 2004.

Copyright Reuters, 2005