Cameroon's Aug-Dec Cocoa Beans Intake for Crushing Rise on Year --NCCB

   By Emmanuel Tumanjong 
 

YAOUNDE, Cameroon--Local cocoa grinders in Cameroon bought more cocoa beans for crushing between August and December compared to their intakes during the same period of the previous season, according to Friday statistics from National Cocoa and Coffee Board, the country's main commodity regulator.

Cameroon has mainly two official cocoa crushers--Sic Cacao, the Cameroon-based affiliate of Switzerland's Barry Callebaut AG (BARN.EB) and South Africa's Tiger Brand (TBS.JO), owner of Chocolaterie Confiserie du Cameroun, or Chococam.

Their cocoa purchases between August and November in the current season totaled 27,853 tons, up from 25,456 tons they consumed during the same period of the last season, the figures showed.

The cocoa season in Cameroon officially runs from August of each year through July of the subsequent year.

According to monthly intake, Sic Cacao bought 6,333 tons in December of the present season, up from 4,022 tons of it bought in December of last season. Meanwhile, Chococam bought barely two tons of the crop in December, down from 201 tons it bought in December of the last season.

Chocolate, cocoa powder, cocoa cake and liquor produced by Sic Cacao and Chococam are marketed mainly in Cameroon and its five neighboring countries in the Economic Community of Central African States, or Cemac.

The main crop output generally runs from September and February/March of each year.

Cocoa beans grindings in Cameroon during the 2012-2013 season stood at 32,019 tons, compared with 29,924 tons of cocoa beans processed 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 industrial and government figures.

Write to Emmanuel Tumanjong at [e-mail]

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