The Ghana COCOBOD has expressed worry over reports of China’s resolve to produce and export cocoa beans.

The industrial Asian nation is reported to have produced its first batch of cocoa beans in the town of Xinglong in South China and according to reports subsequently exported to Belgium weighing 500kg and worth about US$3,600.

But the Public Affairs Manager for the Ghana COCOBOD, Fiifi Boafo in an interaction with Citi Business News monitored by GhanaWeb described the development as rather worrying for the future of Ghana’s cocoa industry.

“It’s been of concern, a concern in the sense that generally the cocoa market has been saturated and consumption does not seem to be growing as fast as production of cocoa so any new addition in terms of production is a matter of concern because higher production without commensurate consumption will force the price of cocoa downwards,” Boafo stressed.

He continued, “The concern has to do with the fact that, would China be able to produce in large quantities and be commercially viable? I ask because if you look at cocoa production generally, it grows in places where you have for example between 10 degrees north and 10 degrees south of the equator where the climate temperature ranges between 18-32 degrees Celsius with rainfall of about 1500 mm to about 2000 mm.”

“China and the specific place we are talking about does not have that geographical location,” the COCOBOD public affairs manager added.

Meanwhile, Ghana and Ivory Coast account for almost 70% of global supplies for cocoa beans.