Cameroon Factories' Cocoa Intakes Plummet on Year as Harvests Dip -- Industry

   By Emmanuel Tumanjong 
   Special to DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

YAOUNDE, Cameroon--The two companies processing cocoa in Cameroon bought fewer beans to feed their factories between August and February, as less of the commodity came on the market during the last two months, statistics published by the crop's main industry indicated.

The West African nation's cocoa beans are crushed locally by Sic Cacao, the Cameroon unit of Switzerland's Barry Callebaut AG (BARN.EB) and South Africa's Tiger Brand (TBS.JO), owner of Chocolaterie Confiserie du Cameroun, or Chococam.

Together they bought 25,370 metric tons of cocoa beans between the August and February, down from 30,299 tons they jointly bought during the same period of the last season [August-July].

Sic Cacao bought 23,769 tons of the total while Chococam purchased 1,601 tons.

The National Cocoa and Coffee Board statistics show that chocolate, cocoa powder, cocoa cake and liquor produced by Sic Cacao and Chococam are marketed mainly in the European Union, Cameroon and its five neighboring countries in the Economic Community of Central African States.

Cameroon, the world's fifth cocoa producer is inching toward its the main-crop cocoa harvest and NCCB said manufacturers bought less cocoa because the crop is getting scarce on the markets.

Grindings in Cameroon during the 2013-2014 season stood at 32,804 tons, up from 32,019 tons processed in the previous season.

The country exported 158,311 tons of beans during the 2013-2014 season, down from 201,563 tons in the previous season, when output nosedived to 209,905 tons, saccording to industry data. A total of 228,911 tons of cocoa beans was harvested in the 2012-2013 season.

Write to Emmanuel Tumanjong at [e-mail]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires