Australian firm to set up cocoa processing plant in Cameroon

The Australian company, Atlantic Group, plans to build a cocoa bean processing unit in the southern Cameroonian town of Kribi, reliable sources disclosed on Monday.

The information was revealed in a call for expression of interest published on March 14, 2016, which invites companies to bid for the implementation of this project initiated by Atlantic Cocoa Corporation (ACC), a local subsidiary of Atlantic Group.

According to the promoters, the “setting up of an industrial cocoa bean processing unit is part of the objectives of the government to promote cocoa processing to the tune of 50 per cent of national production, in order to retain a significant portion of the added value of the country’s strategic agricultural sector.”

Cameroon, whose average cocoa production is around 230,000 tons, locally processes only 25 per cent of its production, a volume that the country intends to double by 2020.

This will be the first Cameroonian experience of Atlantic Group, a company specializing in the catering industry.