Cameroon To Boost Domestic Cocoa Grinding With Almost $5.6 Million Funding -- Minister

By Emmanuel Tumanjong

YAOUNDE, Cameroon--The price of crushed cocoa beans in Cameroon could jump by 55.6% at the start of the season, as the West African nation's government said Wednesday it is funding the grinding of cocoa beans domestically.

"The government has dipped its hand into the pocket by disbursing the sum of 3.3 billion Central African francs ($5.6 Million) to accompany nationals in the processing of cocoa beans in the country," Cameroon's Minister of Trade Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.

Mr. Mbarga Atangana said the move is intended to encourage local consumption and add value to the country's cocoa by exporting by-products of the crop, instead of exporting cocoa beans only.

In the 2014-15 season, Cameroon produced 232,531 metric tons of cocoa beans, exporting 198,130 tons of that harvest.

"Our intention is to process at least 40% of our cocoa, and export 60% of the uncrushed beans, as we head toward producing 600,000 metric tons of cocoa yearly by 2020," said Mr. Atangana.

Cameroon hosts two foreign cocoa-crushing companies--Switzerland-based chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut AG (BARN.EB) and South Africa's Tiger Brands (TBS.JO). Both companies absorbed 32,112 tons of the crop that season. The remaining 15 tons were crushed by local smallholders, government and industrial figures indicated.

The cocoa season in Cameroon officially starts in August and ends in July the following year.

Write to Emmanuel Tumanjong at [e-mail]

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