Cocoa producers told to increase cocoa consumption

Accra, Aug. 28, GNA - The Cocoa Producers Alliance (COPAL) says it has put in place strategies to increase cocoa and cocoa products consumption beyond the current three per cent across Africa. Cocoa consumption on the continent is low although it produces between 2.8 million tonnes and three million tonnes, the Alliance said. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Mr. Sona Ebai, Secretary General of COPAL, said Africa's consumption must go up since it accounted for 75 per cent of world cocoa beans supply. Commenting on the outlook of the cocoa industry on the continent, Mr. Ebai said a critical look at the horizon indicated that the situation would not change until 2012.

"The major challenges in terms of supply of cocoa beans onto the international market may come from Indonesia and Vietnam, but this would not go beyond 12 per cent, looking at the prevalence of the supply of cocoa beans from Africa."

Producer countries, led by the world's leading producer, Cote d'Ivoire, are looking at increasing their grinding capacities to more than 14 per cent, Mr Ebai said.

"Expectations of an increased processing capacity in Ghana could increase the figure significantly." Ghana is looking forward to increasing production from cocoa processing companies including Afro Tropic, WAMPCO and Cocoa Processing Company.

Mr. Ebai said at the Cocoa Producers Alliance Summit in Abuja, Nigeria, resolved to promote consumption, through generic promotion of cocoa and cocoa products including promotion of the virtues of cocoa and cocoa products.

He explained that COPAL had Promotion Committees across member countries that would see to the promotion and consumption of cocoa, while advising that programmes and projects on cocoa use should be enhanced.

A Cocoa Promotion Fund currently has a-500 million dollar seed money to promote cocoa and its related products. He said drought resistant beans had been developed and were in use or just about to be tested on farms across the 10 producer nations in Africa.

On whether cocoa prices could go up beyond current levels, Mr Ebai said: "We could get more by improving quality and perhaps regulating supply, but that would not be prudent since it could backfire on the knowledge that the product had been stored for future use."