- Title: IVORY COAST: Country eyes position as top cocoa grinder
- Date: 20th August 2010
- Summary: SAN PEDRO, IVORY COAST (RECENT - AUGUST 12, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WORKERS UNLOADING COCOA BAGS FROM TRUCKS (SOUNDBITE) (French) ALI LAKIS, DIRECTOR OF COCOA EXPORT FIRM, SAF CACAO SAYING: "Today we are the world's top cocoa producer of cocoa, so we must be the world's top cocoa grinder too. That would please us, that would allow us to build industries and specialise in all grinding systems" VARIOUS OF PACKAGING OF COCOA BEANS FOR EXPORT VARIOUS OF BAGGING OF DRY COCOA BEANS (SOUNDBITE) (French) ALI LAKIS, DIRECTOR OF COCOA EXPORT FIRM, SAF CACAO SAYING: "We now grind almost 35 to 40 percent of the raw material, the beans in Ivory Coast. Meaning that for every 1.2 million tonnes, we grind 400,000 tonnes. We hope that soon there will be measures in place so that we can grind 100 percent of the raw material in Ivory Coast. And this is our fight." VARIOUS OF NEW COCOA BUTTER MACHINERY BEING INSPECTED BY AHMED AMER, DIRECTOR OF COCOA PROCESSING FIRM, CHOCO-IVOIRE VARIOUS OF NEW COCOA PROCESSING FACTORY (SOUNDBITE) (French) AHMED AMER, DIRECTOR OF COCOA PROCESSING FIRM, CHOCO-IVOIRE, SAYING: "The clients we target today are the African clients and why not, European and American clients. It should be universal and of good quality." EXTERIOR NEW FACTORY'S MAIN BUILDING VARIOUS INTERIORS OF NEW COCOA PROCESSING FACTORY (SOUNDBITE) (French) ALI LAKIS, DIRECTOR OF COCOA EXPORT FIRM, SAF CACAO SAYING: "I can't see why we are taking risks and make big investments and get indebted with the banks to set up big businesses, while others, the stronger ones from the West, come and build big factories here and don't even have packing facilities. They rent warehouses, rent machineries and buy cocoa beans. They make a hundred thousand tonnes of cocoa without taking any risk, and that's not right." COCOA SACKS ON TRUCK VARIOUS OF COCOA SACKS STACKED UP IN WAREHOUSE
- Embargoed: 4th September 2010 03:14
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- Topics: Industry
- Reuters ID: LVACFLRYDJKSDOL8OZ6OPII5NQEX
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Ivory Coast is on track to become the world's top cocoa grinder in the next few years as the West African state seeks more value from its raw materials exports.
Investments in cocoa processing facilities in the country, already the No. 1 grower of the main ingredient in chocolate, have pushed its share of the global grind up sharply since 2008 and could allow it to overtake the Netherlands for the top spot as early as next season.
"Today we are the world's top cocoa producer of cocoa, so we must be the world's top cocoa grinder too. That would please us, that would allow us to build industries and specialise in all grinding systems," said Ali Lakis, the director of cocoa export firm SAF Cacao, which has handled a fifth of the beans arriving at the port of San Pedro so far this season.
Processing beans close to where they are grown is increasingly appealing to cocoa producers keen to cut costs. The government of Ivory Coast has set an initial goal of grinding half of the roughly 1.2 million tonnes it produces each year.
"We now grind almost 35 to 40 percent of the raw material, the beans in Ivory Coast. Meaning that for every 1.2 million tonnes, we grind 400,000 tonnes. We hope that soon there will be measures in place so that we can grind 100 percent of the raw material in Ivory Coast. And this is our fight," said Lakis.
Ivory Coast ground 420,000 tonnes of cocoa in the 2008/09 season, a figure only 20,000 tonnes less than was ground in the Netherlands, according to a World Bank report on the sector last December.
Ivory Coast's total grinding capacity has been around 489,000 tonnes a year since SACO-Barry Callebaut nearly tripled capacity at its San Pedro factory to 105,000 tonnes last year.
The SAF Cacao group has also just built a new grinding factory in San Pedro that will have an initial capacity of 32,000 tonnes when it opens next month.
Ahmed Amer, director of the processing firm Choco-Ivoire, says it can be upgraded to 100,000 tonnes to reach a wider market.
"The clients we target today are the African clients and why not, European and American clients. It should be universal and of good quality," said Amer.
On Tuesday Singapore commodity firm Olam International said it was building a 43.5 million U.S. dollar plant in Abidjan with a 60,000 tonne capacity. That would put Ivory Coast's total grinding capacity at around 580,000 tonnes, at a time when demand for chocolate is expected to rise, especially in Asia.
Ivory Coast has clear advantages as a process location.
Its rich, well-watered fields supply 40 percent of the world market for raw beans. The government offers what cocoa traders say are some attractive tax breaks for grinders. And unlike many neighbours, it usually has enough electricity.
But there are problems: energy and industrial inputs are costly, customs are riddled with corruption and roads are choked by racketeering police and soldiers who slow deliveries and drive up costs by extorting money from truckers.
Cocoa volumes are in decline and reforms needed to improve them have been held back by a political crisis that only long overdue elections stand a chance of resolving.
In a speech when an October 31 date for the polls was announced two weeks ago, President Laurent Gbagbo made a campaign pledge to "open discussions" with cocoa importing countries to get better terms of trade for semi-finished cocoa products.
"I can't see why we are taking risks and make big investments and get indebted with the banks to set up big businesses, while others, the stronger ones from the West, come and build big factories here and don't even have packing facilities. They rent warehouses, rent machineries and buy cocoa beans. They make a hundred thousand tonnes of cocoa without taking any risk, and that's not right," said Lakis.
The SAF Cacao group's 30 million U.S. dollar factory was financed with loans from banks including Ecobank Cote D'Ivoire and a subsidiary of France's Credit Agricole. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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