Cameroon Cocoa Crushers' Intake Rises on Year - NCCB

   By Emmanuel Tumanjong 
   Special to DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

YAOUNDE, Cameroon--Cameroon is processing more cocoa beans locally, the national regulator has said, highlighting a move by the government of the world's fifth-largest cocoa producer to process at least 50% of its beans either partially or wholly before export.

In the first 10 months of the 2013-14 season, the country's two grinders consumed a higher volume of beans compared with the year-earlier period, the National Cocoa and Coffee Board said.

The two factories are owned by Sic Cacao, the Cameroon-based unit of Swiss firm Barry Callebaut AG (BARN.EB) and Tiger Brands Ltd. (TBS.JO), the South African owner of Chocolaterie Confiserie du Cameroun, or Chococam.

Their purchases between August and June in the current season totaled 32,042 metric tons, up from 30,496 tons in the season-earlier period.

In June alone, Sic Cacao bought 1,091 tons of cocoa beans, down on the year-earlier month's 1,291 tons, while Chococam bought 131 tons of beans, unchanged on the year, the NCCB said in a report.

Chocolate, cocoa powder, cocoa cake and liquor produced by the two grinders are marketed mainly in the European Union, Cameroon and its five neighbors in the Economic Community of Central African States.

In the 2012-13 season, cocoa grindings totaled 32,019 tons, compared with 29,924 tons in the previous season.

Total cocoa production in Cameroon in the same period stood at 228,911 tons, up from 220,000 tons produced in the previous season, according to industry and government figures.

Cameroon's cocoa season officially runs from August through July.

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