Cameroon increases cocoa crop

CAMEROONS cocoa harvest increased to 126,804 tonnes in the 1997-98 season compared with 125,623 tonnes in the previous season.

The Government said around 90% of the 100,000 tonnes exported in the 1997-98 year to July reached a fair fermented grade after steps had been taken to raise quality. Top quality cocoa totalled 7% of the crop.

Cameroon is one of the worlds leading producers of cocoa but sales have been discounted on world markets for some time because of expectations about quality.

The Cameroon Interprofessional Cocoa and Coffee Council (CICC) said local producers had skewed internal cocoa prices by offering more than the average price to farmers compared with the previous season. It said farmers needed to be more aware of world market trends to get better prices.

Cameroons cocoa output is expected to reach 150,000 tonnes by 2000.

• Financial Times 18/08/98 page 22 (News Digest)