Nigeria, the world's fourth biggest cocoa grower, aims to double output to 500,000 tonnes over the next three years as it tries to expand its exports beyond oil, an industry body said on Friday. The Cocoa Processors Association of Nigeria (COPAN) said the government had distributed around 10,000 improved seeds to farmers in its 14 cocoa-producing states and production increases would start by 2014.
"There are a lot of initiatives by the government to raise production volumes. In another three years, we see cocoa volumes going from 250,000 to 500,000 metric tonnes," COPAN secretary Felix Oladunjoye told Reuters. The government had also started to subsidise fertilisers for farmers, strengthen industry regulation to boost volumes and distribute chemicals to fight disease.
Demand for the raw beans from Nigeria was growing, he said but this was not the case for the semi-finished cocoa products. Demand for those had dropped by around 70 percent over the last three years, he added. The debt crisis in Europe has led to big cuts in demand for cocoa products - butter, liquor, powder and cake - from Western and Asian markets, he said, noting that most European chocolate makers preferred to buy raw beans.
Grinding had fallen to 20,000 tonnes a year, out of a capacity of 150,000 tonnes, owing to low global demand, Oladunjoye said. Nigeria was processing around 230,000 tonnes in 1986 when the sector was first deregulated. Volumes of beans produced had stayed between 200,000-250,000 tonnes over the past three years, Oladunjoye said. He expected local demand to pick up some of the slack from lower sales in Europe.
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