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
realtimedesklondon@dowjones.com
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