(Business in Cameroon) – On August 8, 2024, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, Cameroon’s Minister of Commerce, officially launched the 2024-2025 cocoa season in Mvengue, a town in the South Region of Cameroon. The event also reviewed the performance of the 2023-2024 season, which ran from August 1, 2023, to July 15, 2024.
According to data from the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (ONCC), Cameroon’s cocoa production for the 2023-2024 season reached 266,725 tons, a 1.17% increase from the previous season’s 263,613 tons. However, this volume remains below the peak levels of 292,472 tons and 295,164 tons achieved during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons, respectively, which were the highest in the past five seasons.
A key highlight of the season was the surge in producer prices, which hit record highs. The ONCC reports that farm-gate prices ranged from a minimum of CFA1,150 per kilogram (CFA2,023 per kilogram in FOB value) to a maximum of CFA6,300 per kilogram (CFA5,648 per kilogram in FOB value) during a bulk sale in the Center Region. This increase in both domestic and international prices resulted in total revenues of CFA488.8 billion in FOB value, up by more than CFA220 billion compared to the previous season.
Despite these gains, local processing remains a challenge. The ONCC reveals that although new large-scale processing units have been established over the past three seasons, with a combined capacity exceeding 100,000 tons, only 85,789 tons of cocoa beans were processed locally in 2023-2024. This represents a decrease of 3,415 tons from the 89,204 tons processed during the 2022-2023 season.
The local market continues to be dominated by exporters, who shipped 185,613 tons of cocoa throughout the season. Telcar Cocoa, a local trader affiliated with the American firm Cargill, led the export market with 35.1% of international sales, followed by Ofi Cam with 24.9% and Sbet with 9.8%.
