Cocoa Processing Company introduces new chocolate varieties

The Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) has launched three new variants of chocolate products onto the market.

They are the Bar Chocolates, Handcraft Chocolate Pieces and Chocolate Dragees.

The bar chocolate consists of six different types of milk chocolate with exotic nuts, while handcraft chocolate pieces come in six flavours.

The chocolate dragees are an alternative to the popular Golden Tree pebbles and come in smaller sizes.

At the launch of the products in Tema last Wednesday, the acting Managing Director of CPC, Nana Agyemin Boateng, called for increased public investment in the company to enable it to boost its downstream processing capacity and help reduce the export of raw cocoa beans.

That, he explained, would also help create more jobs and contribute to achieving the vision of “Ghana Beyond Aid.”

Pleasant surprise

Nana Agyemin Boateng said the formulation of the new products was inspired by consumer and laboratory research and the desire of management to expand the company’s finished product lines to meet consumer preferences and the needs of the highly sophisticated chocolate market.

He said the new products came in improved packaging, while maintaining the unique taste and quality of the Golden Tree Chocolate.

“CPC has already exhibited samples of the new products in Morocco, Spain and China and in each of the countries; the products overwhelmed and confounded chocolate connoisseurs.”

“The question had always been, are these chocolates really produced in Ghana?” he added.

Potential exists

Nana Agyemin Boateng said the potential existed for the Golden Tree Chocolate brand to gain international recognition but that required support and investment in the operations of the company.

He said countries that had made deliberate efforts at developing their chocolate industries were reaping substantial returns, something that Ghana must emulate.

“Switzerland, which is the largest producer of chocolates in Europe, generates a huge amount of its wealth from chocolate sales estimated at $14 billion. Belgium, which is the second largest producer of chocolate, generates $12 billion from chocolate sales, while revenue from taxation on chocolate in Europe currently is $1.055 billion annually,” he stated.

Nana Agyemin Boateng said analysis of the figures pointed to the fact that Ghana stood to gain from downstream processing of cocoa.

“A recent study of trends of revenue from chocolate sales and exports of raw cocoa beans concludes that the continuous investments in the production of beans without commensurate downstream investment and promotion in finished goods, will lead to the oversupply of beans and thereby low prices in the international market,” he said.

The managing director indicated that CPC was well positioned to expand its operations and, therefore, appealed to the investing public to support the company to procure additional machines to augment the existing ones to enable the company to expand its operations.

Support

The Deputy CEO of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) in charge of Operations, Mr Emmanuel Opoku, commended the management of CPC for initiating moves to resuscitate the company.

He noted that while the CPC had been processing the best of beans in the world, the company was faced with some challenges.

He gave an assurance that COCOBOD had taken up the challenge to help CPC stand on its feet again.

The Minister of State in charge of Agriculture, Dr Nurah Gyiele, stressed the need for the company to do continuous value addition to meet consumer demands.

He also called for the right marketing strategies that would position the Golden Tree brand with its premium cocoa content as a healthy and desired option.

He commended the CPC for making great strides in terms of increase in production, revenue, new product development and visibility.