(Business in Cameroon) – Africa Processing Company, which specializes in processing cocoa beans, inaugurated its second industrial unit on November 28 in Ngolambélé, in the Dimako district of Cameroon’s East region. The new site joins the company’s plant in Mbankomo in the Center region. Neither the production capacity nor the investment cost of the new facility was disclosed.
The company said it operates the only cocoa-processing unit in Cameroon that produces both semi-finished industrial products, such as cocoa paste and cocoa butter, and consumer products, including chocolate. Chief executive officer Lisette Claudia Tame Djame said the goal is to process raw material at the source. She noted that the East region offers significant potential, with about 12,000 tons of cocoa available each year. She added that the area represents a major market and a gateway to the northern regions.
Africa Processing Company entered Cameroon’s cocoa-processing market quietly during the 2022–2023 season. It now reports annual revenue of CFA500 million and produces 8,000 tons of cocoa derivatives each year at its Mbankomo plant. The Ngolambélé site is expected to strengthen both operational and financial performance.
The company is the fifth industrial-scale cocoa grinder in Cameroon, alongside Sic Cacaos of Swiss group Barry Callebaut, Chococam of South Africa’s Tiger Brands, Atlantic Cocoa of Ivorian operator Kone Donsongui, and the Cameroonian firm Neo Industry.
By expanding the network of processors, the new unit supports efforts to move the sector up the value chain. Local cocoa processing passed the symbolic threshold of 100,000 tons for the first time at the end of the 2024–2025 season. The increase in cocoa-grinding capacity in recent years has intensified competition for bean purchases, helping sustain the prices paid to farmers.
Driven by this stronger competition and favorable international market conditions, the farm-gate price of cocoa beans in Cameroon reached a record high of CFA6,300 per kilogram during the 2023–2024 season, according to the National Cocoa and Coffee Board.
BRM
