(Business in Cameroon) – During the launch of the 2024-2025 cocoa season in Mvengue on August 8, the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (ONCC) reported that Cameroon exported 185,613 tons of cocoa beans during the previous season.
Of this volume, only 9.47% were Grade I beans, translating to about 17,577 tons. Grade I beans, also known as Good Fermented according to the Federation of Cocoa Commerce (FCC) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards, are considered of high quality.
Grade I beans generally fetch a higher price in world markets than Grade II beans that are also known as Fair Fermented beans. The remaining beans, categorized as “off-standard,” are deemed unfit for export. In the 2023-2024 season, Cameroon exported more than 168,000 tons of Grade II beans, continuing its long-standing dominance in this category. However, this trend shifted during the 2020-2021 season.
According to ONCC data, Grade I beans represented 40% of Cameroon’s exports during the 2020-2021 season, marking the highest performance in the last twenty years. The 17,577 tons of Grade I beans exported in the 2023-2024 season surpasses the 1,099 tons and 8,933 tons exported in the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons, respectively, as per the Ministry of Commerce. This improvement reflects the impact of over a decade of efforts by the Cameroonian government and the cocoa-coffee inter-professional sector to enhance the quality of Cameroonian cocoa.
In addition to providing producers with tarps to prevent beans from drying on asphalt and renovating drying ovens in production areas coinciding with the rainy season, this quality crusade has led to the establishment of post-harvest processing centers. These centers, set up in collaboration with French chocolatiers and confectioners, enforce specific processing techniques and practices. The result is “zero defect” beans that are sold in niche markets at higher prices.
