(Business in Cameroon) - According to the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (ONCC), in May 2014,since the launch of the current cocoa season in August 2013, the Cameroonian subsidiary of the Barry Callebaut firm, Sic-Cacaos, has already bought around 30,025 tonnes of cocoa for its grinding activities. These purchases are 3,000 tonnes more the 27,203 tonnes bought over the same period in the last season.
Sic-Cacaos is positioning itself as the local Cameroonian cocoa sector’s main processor, far ahead of Chocolateries confiseries du Cameroun (Chococam), a subsidiary of the South African company, Tiger Brands which only bought 795 tonnes of cocoa for processing since the start of the season. This was revealed by ONCC which went on to indicate that the company has not purchased any additional cocoa beans since 2014.
This is a situation that experts attribute to the narrowness of the Tiger Brands subdiary’s market which sells semi-finished products exclusively in Cameroon while Sic-Cacaos sells semi-processed products in six CEMAC countries: Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Chad.
In light of Sic-Cacaos’ dynamism this year in the processing sector and the arrival of at least two new companies, Cameroon should easily reach its processing goal of 50,000 tonnes of cocoa in the current season. ONCC highlighted that, for the month of May alone, the Cameroonian grinding companies bought 30,820 tonnes of cocoa beans.