United Cacao Share Discussion Threads

[ibug] 09/12/2014 12:21

Chocolate plantations in Peru is a very good long term investment; stable politics and environment without major diseases such as Ebola. This company has excellent prospects.

[andrbea] 09/12/2014 10:12

Chocolate expanding to Eastern markets

With chocolate sales in the Middle East and North Africa expected to reach $5.8 billion in 2016, the facilities will help the company to continue to meet the demand of the local UAE and Saudi markets, as well as 30 additional markets across the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian sub-continent to which this facility exports.

“This state-of-the-art production line is further proof of Mars’ commitment to the region since commencing its operations in Dubai in 1993,” said Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdul Aziz Shihi, Under Secretary of the UAE Ministry of Economy for Economic Affairs.

[andrbea] 08/12/2014 15:14

Tks ibug, I have added the website to the thread header.

[ibug] 08/12/2014 15:08

Interesting website:

[andrbea] 08/12/2014 14:54

price shake over

northward rise resumes

Consumption of chocolate confectionery in the Asia-Pacific region averaged 200 grams per person last year, less than the Middle East and Africa, according to Euromonitor. Demand expanded 4.5 percent, the fastest rate in the world and almost six times the global increase of 0.8 percent. Australia and New Zealand munched the most chocolate with 4.8 kilograms (10.6 pounds) per person, followed by Western Europe at 4.6 kilograms.

Barry Callebaut doubled chocolate output capacity in Asia to 90,000 tons in 2014 from five years ago and a further increase is possible, Mikael Neglen, the Asia-Pacific chocolate president, said in a June 6 interview. The Swede moved to Singapore last year before his company spent $950 million for the cocoa-ingredients unit of Petra Foods Ltd. in the country.

[andrbea] 08/12/2014 13:31

Confectionarynews.com says the Swiss are, today, the biggest chocolate consumers in the world: an average person living in Switzerland eats about 9 kg of chocolate a year (equivalent to 209 regular-sized bars). The Saudi Arabia chocolate market is set to grow by 43 per cent in 2016. Yet another report claims that surging consumption of chocolate in Asia is pushing cocoa bean prices to the highest level in three years, while quoting Juergen Steinemann, CEO of Barry Callebaut (the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer) as saying, “In the longer term, the scarcity of quality cocoa is a serious concern for our entire industry.” And dark chocolates have more cocoa and are, therefore, more instrumental in depleting the stock.

[andrbea] 08/12/2014 13:01

Unsurprisingly, the leaders of Asia's chocoholic charge are also the region's biggest: China and India. For instance, sales of the sweet stuff doubled in China in the four-year period between 2006 and 2010 alone. "China, by sheer size, is going to be the most important and significant example of this," Euromonitor's head of food research, Lee Linthicum, said in 2011, referring to the country's growing chocolate appreciation.

Hershey's takes a similar view of the sector, forecasting that China will become its second-largest market after the US by 2017. Not to be left out, India has shown similar growth, with consumption increasing by 15,000 to 40,000 tons in 2014. This in a country where around one in two people have never even tasted it.

[andrbea] 08/12/2014 12:20

United Cacao should benefit from increased demand for chocolate and concerns about working practices in distant countries, Midas said in the Mail on Sunday.

The company, which has joined AIM, produces its cocoa beans in Peru instead of Africa, where working conditions are often bad and costs are high.

United wants to pay a living wage and eschew child or slave labour but also believes it can be profitable because it does not have to pay corporation or export taxes.

The first crop should be ready next summer.

At 159p, the shares are likely to reap rewards in the long run.

hxxp://www.coutts.com/news-and-insights/newsitem/index.asp?nid=22293552

[andrbea] 08/12/2014 11:21

This news story (labelling, see link) could be very beneficially IMO to United Cacao
as the latter pays its staff well and looks after them (and Peru is outside Africa)


Consumer group calls for cocoa origin labeling on US chocolate

By Oliver Nieburg+, 08-Dec-2014

The Food Empowerment Project has called on US chocolate makers to list cocoa country of origin on pack so consumers can avoid brands that use cocoa from West Africa, where unlawful child labor is common.

[andrbea] 08/12/2014 11:19

caviar...

Despite the shortage warnings, the increase in demand for chocolate was almost seven times greater in Asia compared to that of traditional European markets, the manufacturer added.

In South America, the market for chocolate expanded by seven per cent. Brazil, once one of the world’s great cocoa manufacturers, has in recent years become a net importer.

In 2010, John Mason of Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council, predicted that “in 20 years, chocolate will be like caviar”.

[share_shark] 08/12/2014 11:01

Great news alround folks. Chocs away ?. ;-)

[andrbea] 08/12/2014 10:58

they care for the community too:

United Cacao employs 400 local Peruvian staff, who are paid electronically via direct debit, and the company says it helps the farmers to plant their own cacao by lending where the banks will not.

The company prides itself on this ethical, sustainable approach, and of course charges its customers a premium for it.

[andrbea] 08/12/2014 10:43

tks tez123

some earlier posts:


andrbea
4 Dec'14 - 14:37 - 5 of 14 0 0 edit

Chinese chocolate market to grow 40% by 2018



andrbea
4 Dec'14 - 17:15 - 6 of 14 0 0 edit

And there is demand for extra cocoa production too, he said, flagging the potential for a step change if Chinese consumers gain the same sweet tooth as Western peers.

Chinese consumption, in cacao terms, at 0.05 kilogrammes per year, is 2% of that in the US, and 1% of that in Belgium or Switzerland, and is poised to make some attempt at a catch-up, rising 40% between 2013-18, Euromonitor believes.



Also:

'Porsche of cocoa'

Latin America - where Peru, where United Cacao is based, offers zero export taxes and, where the group operates, no corporate income taxes either - offers the natural outlet for developing cocoa plantations, he said.

Indeed, he termed Peru and neighbouring Ecuador the "Silicon Valley of cocoa" for their research into the bean, and development of varieties such as the CCN 51 type used by the group which is a "game changer".

"CCN 51 is the Porsche of cocoa," Mr Melka said, with good yield potential, and resistance to the diseases which have plagued some South American cocoa operations in the past.

[tez123] 08/12/2014 10:18

Great bb, well Andrea

[andrbea] 08/12/2014 09:49

directors have proven record of success:

United was founded by Dennis Melka, a plantation crop enthusiast who chaired Asian Plantations, the palm oil group that was recommended by Midas in January 2010 at 85p.

Against a backdrop of falling palm oil prices, Melka put Asian Plantations up for sale earlier this year and in October sold it for 220p a share

[captainhindsight] 08/12/2014 09:06

Mail on Sunday: hxxp://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/investing/article-2863624/MIDAS-SHARE-TIPS-Chocs-away-start-aiming-world-s-cocoa-grower.html

[andrbea] 08/12/2014 08:16

Tks for post 10 shaeShark
up 6% in early trading

[share_shark] 05/12/2014 20:36

Shares Mag.

If this has been posted before dis-regard.

Courtesy of poster on LSE site.

CaptainHindsight
Posts: 7



Price: 152.50

Shares Mag TipThu 09:51CHOC - Nice full page BUY recommendation in todays Shares Mag:
'Chocolate buying is soaring and a cocoa supply crunch looms, with West African production unable to keep pace with demand. A canny way to play these dynamics is via United Cacao. Management have previously created shareholder value before and growing appreciation of this strategic asset should drive the share price.'

[share_shark] 05/12/2014 20:28

Thank you for setting up the threads andrbea.

VSA news.

I took part in the Choc IPO and it has done well thus far.##2nd Dec.

Here is the VSA news on it and other news .




02.12.2014


United Cacao in Interactive Investor

Chocolate IPO goes down a treat


02.12.2014


United Cacao, First Day of Trading

Shares in first listed cocoa-growing specialist jump on debut

[andrbea] 05/12/2014 14:41

also:

But all these new chocoholics are having an effect on the industry at a global level, with the price of cocoa beans skyrocketing to 3,371 USD a ton in September of this year. Chef Daue says "the availability of cocoa beans to meet the growing demand for chocolate will become all chocolatiers' biggest challenge worldwide."

Euromonitor, meanwhile, states that worldwide demand has steadily increased at just under three percent per annum, and attributes the desire for cocoa powder in particular to "the change in global consumption patterns in emerging countries," specifically the "millions of new consumers" living across Asia.

[andrbea] 05/12/2014 14:38

Asia and chocolate:

As consumption continues to rise, more facilities will likely be built across the region dedicated to serve Asia's love of chocolate, as well as the world's. And with demand from the region expected to increase by around five percent by the end of this year, for a region containing more than half the world's population, that's a lot of new chocoholics.

[andrbea] 04/12/2014 17:15

And there is demand for extra cocoa production too, he said, flagging the potential for a step change if Chinese consumers gain the same sweet tooth as Western peers.

Chinese consumption, in cacao terms, at 0.05 kilogrammes per year, is 2% of that in the US, and 1% of that in Belgium or Switzerland, and is poised to make some attempt at a catch-up, rising 40% between 2013-18, Euromonitor believes.



Also:

'Porsche of cocoa'

Latin America - where Peru, where United Cacao is based, offers zero export taxes and, where the group operates, no corporate income taxes either - offers the natural outlet for developing cocoa plantations, he said.

Indeed, he termed Peru and neighbouring Ecuador the "Silicon Valley of cocoa" for their research into the bean, and development of varieties such as the CCN 51 type used by the group which is a "game changer".

"CCN 51 is the Porsche of cocoa," Mr Melka said, with good yield potential, and resistance to the diseases which have plagued some South American cocoa operations in the past.

[andrbea] 04/12/2014 14:37

Chinese chocolate market to grow 40% by 2018

[andrbea] 04/12/2014 09:59

/...

Shares will begin trading on the London Aim market on Tuesday morning, under the ticker CHOC. United Cacao raised £6.4m from the sale of 5m shares at 128p each, and will have a valuation of £23m.

Mr Melka said none of the company’s early funders – its directors and private investors – exited their investments in the IPO, and Mr Melka bought an additional $1.4m (£0.9m) worth of stock.

The Czech entrepreneur and former Credit Suisse investment banker has experience on London’s alternative market; he was the co-founder and joint CEO of Asian Plantations Limited, which floated on AIM five years ago at 75p per share and was sold to a strategic acquirer for 220p per share in October, during which time its market cap had grown from £22m to £110m.

United Cacao has approximately 320 hectares of planted crops to date and plans to increase that to 2,000 hectares by the end of 2015 using the proceeds from its IPO, before completing the planting of its existing 3,250-hectare estate a year later. As cacao is a slow-yielding crop, which means it doesn’t produce for several years after planting, United Cacao will sell its first batch of cocoa next year and will reach peak annual production of three tonnes per hectare for the whole estate by 2022, producing approximately 10,000 tonnes a year.

Although United Cacao aims to become the world’s largest single player in the cacao industry by the end of 2016, the company will control a relatively small slice of the global marketplace. In a 4.5m tonne-per-year global industry, as Mr Melka put it, “that’s a rounding error.”

As such a small producer, will United Cacao be able to make a dent in the cacao market it so wishes to disrupt?

“Absolutely,” says Mr Melka. “Consumers read all about the horrific problems in the cacao industry,” where governments are the sole buyers so they get the profits and leave the farmers in perpetual poverty, “ and it’s very difficult [for high street buyers] to trace where the beans are from.”

He believes his company, with its ethical and sustainable approach and its invitation to consumers to visit the Peru plantation, will bring an “unparalleled level of transparency” to the sector.

“It’s a real opportunity to change the buying practices in the confectionary industry.”