(Business in Cameroon) - The average price per kilogramme for Cameroonian producers for the month of July 2014 is estimated at 1,050 FCFA, according to the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (ONCC), cited by Commodafrica. The same source goes on to say that this average price was 900 FCFA in May 2014.

The price increase is not only the result of the strong maintenance of the prices for this profitable product on the international market, but especially the outcome of “the government’s intensive policy to fight illegal cocoa bean vendors.”

In a release published at the start of the season, the Ministry of Trade recommends the bundled sale of cocoa beans which is done at occasional markets held by the producers themselves after informing the local authorities. At these bundled sales, only holders of a professional ID issued by the CICC are allowed to purchase.

According to the Ministry of Trade, this limits the fraudulent sales generally made at night and strengthens producers’ negotiation power before the buyers, thus guaranteeing more attractive prices.

During the last cocoa season, the Ministry of Trade revealed on November 28, 2013, at the opening of the international cocoa festival, Festicacao, that the 500,000 cocoa producers in Cameroon’s rural areas as well as the 10,000 families for whom cocoa processing was a livelihood in urban areas had generated approximately 250 billion FCFA out of the 4.5 trillion FCFA in sales generated by the sale of cocoa beans internationally.