Cameroon Grinders' Cocoa Consumption Falls -- Industry

By Emmanuel Tumanjong

Special to DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

YAOUNDE, Cameroon--Cameroon's cocoa bean crushers bought less crop for grinding 10 months into the ongoing season compared to the previous season, as crushers stopped buying cocoa during the lull period between the main crop and midcrop harvests, according to statistics published Friday by the country's chief commodity watchdog.

The two factories processing cocoa in Cameroon are Sic Cacao, the Cameroon affiliate of Switzerland-based Barry Callebaut AG (BARN.EB), and South Africa's Tiger Brand (TBS.JO), owner of Chocolaterie Confiserie du Cameroun, or Chococam. Their total cocoa consumption between August and May stood at 25,580 metric tons, down from 30,820 tons they bought during the same period last season of August to July.

Sic Cacao bought 23,979 tons of the crop and Chococam bought the remainder 1,601 tons, according to the National Cocoa and Coffee Board, or NCCB. A Sic Cacao official said the company's intake dropped because they withdrew buyers from the farmgates during the hibernating period of March and April.

"But since we've invested to increase the amount of cocoa we grind, we'll keep our buyers at the farmgates during the next season," the official said.

Barry Callebaut has invested 4.8 billion Central African francs as it plans to increase its cocoa beans intake in the 2015-2016 cocoa season to 50,000 tons yearly.

Government and industrial figures 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.

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, according 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]

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