Buoyant international context and sustained and recognized recovery in the quality of Cameroonian brown gold. These are among other reasons for the improvement observed recently with a record price per kilogram of beans at 4,225 CFA francs.
Cameroonian cocoa “now on the roof of the world”. During a group sale organized by the Minister of Commerce, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, in Abong-Mbang in the production basin of the Eastern region of Cameroon, on March 5, 2024, the kilogram of beans reached the price record of 4225 CFA francs. A price never equaled at the national and global level which, according to a press release from the head of Commerce dated March 6, 2024, is justified not only by the buoyant international context. But also by the sustained and recognized recovery in the quality of the Cameroonian bean throughout the 2023-2024 campaign.
Indeed, apart from the quality of the Cameroonian bean which continues to improve thanks to the awareness-raising work among producers carried out by the Ministry of Commerce in favor of good farming practices, it must also be recognized that the improvement observed on the Cameroonian market is justified by the international context marked by forecasts of a drop in production in Ivory Coast and Ghana, the two leading world producers.
This is due to the aging of plantations and climate change. These forecasts according to ICCO should result in an 11% drop in global production in 2023-2024 to 4.45 million tonnes. Which should lead according to “Investing in Cameroon” to a market deficit of 374,000 tonnes by September 2024, compared to only 74,000 tonnes recorded during the 2022-2023 cocoa season..
Records broken at international level
It is therefore clear that it is this unfavorable international context which then contributed to the explosion in prices which results in producing countries like Cameroon in better remuneration of producers like what has just happened in Abong-Mbang. Indeed, explains the “Ecofin” agency, “since the start of 2024, cocoa is the raw material that has performed the best on the markets, gaining 56.4%. Or more than $2,300 per ton year-on-year. This, after breaking at the beginning of February the record of 5,379 dating back to July 197. The prices of the reference cocoa contract for delivery in March to the Intecontinental Exchange in New York crossed the 6,000 dollar mark and reached a daily high of $6,929. On February 26, 2024, prices closed at $6,884 per ton. Overall, this is a breakthrough for brown gold, which only a year earlier was trading at $2,668 per tonne.
However, beyond the quality of the bean and a favorable context, the Cameroonian producer benefits from the group sales strategy initiated by the Ministry of Commerce. A strategy which allows producers to set their minimum prices and buyers to compete to offer the best in order to grab all the available stock.
Ultimately, the improvement observed on the national market can also be explained by strong demand. Indeed, for some time, apart from exporters, the Cameroonian market has seen the arrival in less than three years of new local processors like Neo-industry, Africa Processing and Atlantic Cocoa.
Julien Efila
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