32.8 million kg was processed while 174.6 million kg exported during the last cocoa season.

Cameroon will join the international community today, to celebrate the International Cocoa Day. Since inception, Cameroon will be celebrating it for the second time with emphasis on the virtues of consuming chocolate and brandishing the varieties of cocoa beans cultivated in Cameroon.

The celebration comes at a time when the local processing is wanting with few processing companies and a handful of Common Initiative Groups, who are far from producing industrial quantity. According to statistics contained in a release signed by the Director General of the National Cocoa and Coffee Board, NCCB, locally processed cocoa was nothing compared to the quantity exported during the just ended 2013/2014 cocoa season. The statistics indicated that total production for the cocoa season stood at 209,904,955 kg nationwide while 174,629,190 kg was imported, 32,803,547 kg were processed locally while 2,472,218 kg was stocked for the next cocoa season.

Of the 32.8 million kilograms processed locally, Sic Cacaos and Chococam processed 32.7 million kilograms while a handful of common initiative groups processed 10,870 kilograms with Gic Unak, the leading artisanal processing unit with 2,270 kg.

The release further stated that among the 15 countries that imported Cameroon’s cocoa, three countries including the Netherlands, Malaysia and Belgium imported 85.79 per cent while the rest imported16.21 per cent. Among the giant importing countries, the Netherlands alone imported 65.76 per cent of cocoa during the last season. The release made known that the 174.6 million kilograms were exported by 32 exporters with five of them covering 77 per cent of total volume submitted for quality control before exporting at the NCCB laboratory. Among the giant exporters, are Telcar (24.7%), Olam Cam (19.13%), Camaco (13.79%), Ets. Ndongo Essomba (10.69%) and Producam (8.04%).

Cameroon’s cocoa has witnessed remarkable amelioration in quality, thanks to NCCB’s Central Laboratory for Analysis. The NCCB which has as principal mission to regulate and supervise all cocoa and coffee related activities with a focus on the quality of produce prior to exportation has also made it possible for stakeholders in the sector to receive daily world market prices.