Cameroon Budgets $1 Billion to Boost Cocoa, Coffee Output

Cameroon, Capital Markets in Africa: Cameroon plans to spend 600 billion CFA francs ($1 billion) doubling cocoa and coffee production by 2020, an agriculture ministry official said.

The money, which will be raised from cocoa and coffee export taxes, will help boost the quantity and quality of beans, Agriculture Ministry Inspector General Yankam Njonou said in an interview Wednesday. Cocoa export duties were tripled last season.

“The government intends to step up cocoa production to 600,000 metric tons by 2020, to about 125,000 metric tons for robusta coffee and 35,000 metric tons for arabica” coffee, he said.

The central African nation increased export taxes on cocoa and coffee exports during the 2014-2015 season to 150 francs a kilogram for cocoa from 54 francs, and to 100 francs a kilogram for coffee to raise money for the program.

Cameroon, Africa’s fourth-largest cocoa producer, produced 269,498 metric tons of the chocolate ingredient in the 2015-16 season, 16 percent more than a year earlier, Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana said on Aug. 3.

Arabica futures have climbed 12 percent this year and were at $1.4235 a pound in New York Wednesday. Robusta has increased 19 percent in the period and was at $1,818 a ton yesterday. Cocoa futures have declined 6.4 percent to $3,005 a ton.

Source: Bloomberg Business News