Ghana PBC cocoa buying firm sale starts Dec 1

ACCRA, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Ghana's privatisation committee said Thursday that 35 percent of the Produce Buying Company (PBC), a subsidiairy of Ghana's Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), would be offered to the public between December 1 and January 14.

The government plans to retain 20 percent of the shares, 20 percent is to go to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), 20 percent to the Ghana Cocoa Coffee and Sheanut Farmers Association and 5.0 percent to the employees of the PBC.

PBC shares will be priced at 500 cedis (15 cents US) and will eventually be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange, the executive-secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) told reporters.

``It will return the business of cocoa into private hands and enable market incentives and competition to operate under an overall national policy framework,'' Emmanuel Agbodo said.

The PBC buys about two-thirds of Ghana's annual cocoa crop of around 375-400,000 tonnes. The company has some 2,700 buying centres, 116 district depots and depots at the ports.

The PBC ``sells'' its cocoa to another subsidiairy of COCOBOD, the Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC), which still is the monopoly exporter of Ghana's cocoa beans.

Ghana has pledged to partly liberalise cocoa exports by October 1, 2000, when private companies will be allowed to export 30 percent of their domestic purchases.

($-3,364 cedis)