By Emmanuel Tumanjong
YAOUNDE, Cameroon--Cameroon's two main industrial crushers
bought more cocoa beans from August through April than they did
over the same nine-month period last year, figures from the
National Cocoa and Coffee Board showed Wednesday.
The NCCB report showed that the two crushers--Chococam and the
Cameroon unit of Barry Callebaut AG (BARN.EB)--have bought 27,512
tons of cocoa beans, up from 26,423 tons last year. Cameroon's
cocoa season runs from August to July.
Chococam is majority owned by Tiger Brands Ltd (TBS.JO) of South
Africa, and Barry Callebaut is represented locally by Societe
Industrielle Camerounaise, or Sic Cacao S.A.. The Swiss firm owns
70% of stakes, with the remaining 30% held by the Cameroon
government.
Sic Cacao's April cocoa intake for April was 26 tons of beans,
down from 98 tons in April 2012. Chococam bought 124 tons of beans
this April. It didn't buy any of the crop in April last year.
In the 2011-12 cocoa season, Sic Cacao and Chococam processed
29,924 tons of cocoa.
They bought 28,413 tons of cocoa beans for processing in the
2010-11 season, according to government data.
Chocolate, cocoa powder, cocoa cake and liquor produced by Sic
Cacao is marketed mainly in Cameroon and its five neighboring
countries in the Economic Community of Central African States.
Cameroon's cocoa output in the 2011-12 season was 210,034 tons,
down from a record 240,000 tons in the 2010-11 season, according to
industry and government figures.
Write to Emmanuel Tumanjong at
realtimedesklondon@dowjones.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires