By Emmanuel Tumanjong
YAOUNDE, Cameroon--The amount of cocoa beans purchased by
Cameroon's two key industrial crushers between August and May of
the current 2012-'13 season continued to rise, compared with a
lower intake recorded in the same period of the last season,
statistics published late Friday by the National Cocoa and Coffee
Board, or NCCB, showed.
The figures indicated that 28,000 tons of cocoa beans were
collectively bought during the period, down from 26,857 tons bought
at the same time the previous season.
Cameroon's cocoa season officially runs from August through
July.
The Cameroon affiliate of Switzerland-based Barry Callebaut AG
(BARN.EB), and Chococam, which is majority owned by South Africa's
Tiger Brands Ltd (TBS.JO) are the local cocoa grinders. Barry
Callebaut is represented locally by Societe Industrielle
Camerounaise, or Sic Cacao S.A., of which a 70% stake is owned by
the Swiss firm and the remaining 30% stake is held by the Cameroon
government.
Sic Cacao's May cocoa consumption stood at 467 tons, slightly
over the 434 tons it bought in the same month of the previous
season.
Meanwhile, the sister Chococam's uptake for the month of May was
21 tons. Chococam bought no cocoa beans in May of the last season,
the data indicated.
In the 2011-2012 cocoa season, Sic Cacao and Chococam processed
29,924 tons of cocoa.
Both firms bought 28,413 tons of cocoa beans for processing in
the 2010-'11 season, according to government data.
Chocolate, cocoa powder, cocoa cake and liquor produced by Sic
Cacao is marketed mainly in Cameroon and its five neighboring
countries in the Economic Community of Central African States.
Cameroon's cocoa output in the last 2011-2012 season was 210,034
tons, falling from a record 240,000 tons in the 2010-'11 season,
according to industry and government figures.
Write to Emmanuel Tumanjong at
realtimedesklondon@dowjones.com
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