(Business in Cameroon) - According to the Inter-professional Cocoa and Coffee Council (CICC), Cameroonian cocoa remains the least sold internationally among the four top producing countries, namely Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. In the last CICC report, while the market’s prices were at their best (between 1,252 FCFA and 1,613 FCFA) for the three last seasons, Cameroonian producers missed out on the manna in global prices.

“Cameroon’s price differential remains quite low relative to the other African countries – Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria,” highlights the report which goes on to say that “for example, for the last season, we believe the price differential relative to Ghana led to a loss of 30 billion FCFA and around 10 billion with Cote d’Ivoire.”

The reason for Cameroonian cocoa’s price problem, which remains worrying is that, “based on the information collected from the ONCC (the National Cocoa and Coffee Board), 95% of cocoa beans are exported at a Grade II quality level. Though we can be happy about the emergence of certified products and the improvement in the differential at the end of the season, the regression persists due to the small percentage of coffee achieving a Grade I rating – only 0.25% of our exports as opposed to 3.18% in 2011/2012 and 0.35% in 2012/2013 which reminds us that we have an immense task ahead of us and we need renew our pursuit to promote our industry,” stated the CICC.

But beyond this structural concern, a problem has come about involving difficulties exporting from Douala where there has been an unparalleled amount of congestion for over 9 months. “The major obstacle to note with Cameroonian cocoa exports during the 2013-2-14 season is the bottleneck at the port of Douala and its impact on fulfilling contracts. Indeed, the delays caused by congestion at the terminal have severely penalised exporters who must constantly renegotiate their agreements with their foreign clients by bearing the full brunt for the deterioration in the quality of the products left in containers for weeks at a time, and this in Douala’s hot and humid environment,” complains the CICC.