Ivory Coast's ICP to increase cocoa grinding capacity by 60%

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16/12/2020 08:48

By Ange Aboa
    ABIDJAN, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Ivory Cocoa Products (ICP) will
increase cocoa grinding capacity at its Ivory Coast plant in San
Pedro by 60% to 80,000 tonnes by September next year, Chief
Executive Ismael Al Khalil said on Wednesday.
    Ivory Coast and Ghana, which produce two thirds of the
world's cocoa, introduced a $400 a tonne guaranteed farm gate
price on cocoa sales for the 2020/21 season but have since
struggled to sell their beans after chocolate demand declined
during the coronavirus crisis.
    The pandemic has dented demand for semi-finished products
such as cocoa butter, powder and cake but the market should
bounce back by 2022, Al Khalil said.
    ICP will expand its warehouses by 50% to 15,000 tonnes of
cocoa beans to meet growing storage needs, he said.
    "Despite COVID, this year we have invested more than 12
million euros ($14.6 million)," he told Reuters.
    "We are investing at a bad time, but we have to move forward
and develop because, thanks to the vaccine, this pandemic will
be under control soon and we think that will boost chocolate
consumption."
    The pandemic has been catastrophic for local grinders and
exporters, he said, calling for tax assistance and for the
government to favour local operators who struggle to compete
with the economies of scale achieved by multinationals.
    "We're afraid of COVID and its impact on our workforce, but
it won't stay around for ever. Demand will eventually catch up
with supply," Al Khalil said.
    ICP's entire output is sold to Theobroma, a unit of
Swiss-based Ecom Agrotrade EPGC.PK , which supplies Nestle
 NESN.S , Starbucks  SBUX.O , Procter & Gamble  PG.N , Kraft
 KRAFTB.UL , and Lindt  LISN.S  among others.
    Ivory Coast competes with the Netherlands as the world's
largest cocoa grinder with installed annual capacity of 720,000
tonnes.
($1 = 0.8219 euros)
    

 (Reporting by Hereward Holland
Editing by David Goodman)
 ((hereward.holland@thomsonreuters.com; +254 20 499 1232;
Reuters Messaging:
hereward.holland.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))