Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia raised its August export reference and benchmark prices for cocoa beans after supply disruptions in West Africa driven by adverse weather, pest attacks, and El Nino-related production declines, pushed global prices sharply higher, the Trade Ministry said.Trade Ministry's Director General for Foreign Trade, Tommy Andana, said the August cocoa bean reference price was set at US$5,424.96 per metric ton, up US$1,455.41, or 36.66 percent, from the previous month.The export benchmark price was increased to US$5,064 per metric ton, climbing US$1,418, or 38.90 percent, reflecting higher international market prices and export costs, according to the ministry's press statement received here on Saturday.The ministry said the new prices also factored in global trade conditions and international logistics costs, with tightening supplies from major West African producers continuing to support cocoa prices.Indonesia will maintain its cocoa bean export duty at 7.5 percent for Aug. 1-31 under Finance Ministry Regulation Number 38 of 2024, as amended by Regulation Number 68 of 2025.The cocoa export levy will also remain at 7.5 percent during the same period, in line with Finance Ministry Regulation Number 69 of 2025, as amended by Regulation Number 9 of 2026.Elsewhere, the August export benchmark price for processed leather products was left unchanged from July, while the benchmark price for pine resin increased to US$1,013 per metric ton from US$1,002.The US$11 increase represented a 1.10 percent monthly gain, reflecting firmer prices for forestry products in international markets.Export benchmark prices for several wood products rose, including natural forest veneer and processed timber with cross-sectional areas between 1,000 square millimeters and 4,000 square millimeters from mixed tropical hardwoods and plantation species.Those plantation species include teak, balsa, eucalyptus and other commercial timber varieties used in construction and manufacturing.Benchmark prices declined for plantation veneer, wooden sheets for packing boxes, wood chips, wood particles and processed timber made from meranti, merbau, and ebony.Prices also fell for timber products derived from acacia, pine, gmelina, sengon and rubber plantations, reflecting weaker market conditions for those species.Benchmark prices for chipwood, processed timber from sungkai plantations and selected large-section merbau timber remained unchanged from July.The updated export reference and benchmark prices were issued under the Trade Ministerial Decree Number 1667 of 2026 governing export pricing for agricultural and forestry products subject to export duties and public service agency tariffs.