(Business in Cameroon) - Over the 2013-2014 season, Cameroon’s cocoa exports fell to 174,629 tonnes according to figures from the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (ONCC). This represents a 3.37% decline relative to the 180,722 tonnes exported during the 2012-2013 season.

According to the CICC in its report on the last season, this downturn in exports is due largely to congestion at the port of Douala. The situation there has “severely penalised exporters who have had to constantly renegotiate their commitments with customers abroad, bearing the full brunt of the deterioration of the product after being left in containers for weeks on end in an environment that is as hot and as humid as Douala.”

Among the top exporters, the CICC also suggests that Telcar Cocoa was the largest exporter of the 2013-2014 season, with 24.74% in exports compared to 19.13% for Olam, 13.79% for Camaco, 10.69% for Ets Ndongo Essomba and 8.04% for Producam.

These exporters sold 65.7% of the 2013-2014 cocoa harvest to the Netherlands, the country that continues to be the top destination for Cameroonian cocoa. Belgium bought 10.6% of total production and Malaysia purchased 10.4%.