(Business in Cameroon) - Today, April 20, 2018, SCB Cameroon and the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) signed a partnership agreement to facilitate the funding of a cocoa processing project in Kékem, in West Cameroon.

According to official sources, in the framework of that agreement, AGF will guarantee CFA6 billion of the CFA13 billion loan SCB Cameroon granted to Neo Industry, the proponent of that cocoa processing project.

For the record, AGF (established by AfDB) has already supported 5,000 SMEs in 38 African countries. SCB Cameroon further reveals that apart from this guarantee provided to Neo Industry, AGF has also opened a guarantee of CFA3 billion (with SCB Cameroon) to support local companies that meet its requirements.  

In the framework of that project, Néo Industry will build a cocoa processing plant to produce cocoa butter and cocoa powder. Apart from this guarantee, the project benefited from the tax and customs incentives and a direct public funding of CFA1.2 billion offered in June 2016 in the framework of the Agropoles project initiated by the economy ministry. This plant will be entirely equipped by Buhler which is said to be the leading equipment provider in the chocolate industry.

This new plant falls in line with the wish of authorities and actors of the cocoa sector to increase the volume of cocoa processed in the country to 50% of the national production by 2020. Indeed, out of the average of 200,000 tons produced during each of the previous five cocoa campaigns, Cameroon only processed 25% of the production. Because of that low volume processed, locally, the cocoa sector is subjected to the fluctuations on the international market.

Brice R. Mbodiam