COCOA TALKS SLOW AT CRUCIAL STAGE - DELEGATES International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) talks on buffer stock rules have slowed during a crucial phase of negotiations, delegates said, but they remained confident about prospects for reaching agreement by Friday. Cocoa producers, European Community (EC) consumers and all consumers separately reviewed technical details of a buffer stock rules package distributed yesterday. The buffer stock working group of consumers and producers was set to meet later today to debate the proposal jointly for the first time, they said. Delegates said major sticking points were likely to be the amount of non-member cocoa allowed to be bought for the buffer stock, and the fixed price differentials at which different origin cocoas will be offered to the buffer stock manager. Producers would prefer that non-member cocoa not be included in the buffer stock because, if it is, countries such as Malaysia benefit from the cocoa agreement without joining it, the delegates said.