(Business in Cameroon) - In its memo on the evolution of the prices of main commodities exported by Cemac countries in Q3 2018, the region’s central bank, Beac, announced that at the end of the year, the prices of cocoa beans dropped below XAF1,000 per kg.

According to the international cocoa organization (ICCO), the situation is attributable to an overproduction on the international market which resulted into a decline in world prices. Between June and September last year, Beac says, beans prices in dollars slightly fell to $2.19 per kg from $2.41. Meanwhile, the US$/XAF exchange rate rose to XAF562.6 in September against XAF561.7 in June 2018, down 0.1629%.

As a result, the price per kg of cocoa dropped roughly by 8.8% to XAF1,234.89 in September 2018, from XAF1,354.13 in June, impacting the whole Cemac region and Beac said cocoa output in the region remains low. Cameroon, for example, which is a major beans producer struggles to produce 300,000 tons per annum. The two giants in this market, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, alone provide almost 60% of world output with 2.9 million tons of beans of the 4.5 million tons produced worldwide in 2018.

Sylvain Andzongo