Volume of Processed Cameroon Cocoa Beans Slips

YAOUNDE, Cameroon--Switzerland-based chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut AG (BARN.EB) and South Africa's Tiger Brands Ltd. (TBS.JO) re-emerged this year as key crushers of cocoa beans, providing powder for locally manufactured chocolate that is exported, Cameroon's cocoa board said.

The companies bought and processed 29,934 metric tons of cocoa beans, down from the 32,128 tons they crushed the previous season. Five tons were consumed by local artisans, according National Cocoa and Coffee Board figures.

The NCCB released the data at the start of the 2016-2017 crop season in the South-West region, which accounts for nearly half of Cameroon's yearly harvest.

The country's cocoa season runs from August of each year through July of the next year.

In the just-ended 2015-2016 season cocoa output rose 0.8% to 269,498 metric tons. Cameroon produced a record 271,791 tons the previous season, according to NCCB data. More than 86% of the 239,717 metric tons of cocoa beans from the just-ended crop season that Cameroon exported world-wide went to Europe.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 07, 2016 07:26 ET (11:26 GMT)

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