Africa weighs 72% of world production of cocoa. But the continent represents only 19% in the processing of this product, which results in a high transfer rate of the value added to the developed countries.
In order to help the industry to improve its cocoa beans processing rates, the West African Development Bank (BOAD) has promised the Ivory Cocoa Product Ltd to finance its capacity of expansion project of its processing unit of cocoa beans in San Pedro for $ 2 billion FCFA.
The agreement was signed on the 24th December by Oumar Tembely, Head of Mission at the West African Development Bank in Ivory Coast and Mr Ishmael EL KHALIL, CEO of Ivory Cocoa Product Ltd.
This funding, according to Ivory Cocoa Product Ltd, will contribute to strengthen the cocoa processing rates in Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest producer. The project will also enable the Ivorian government to achieve its goal to increase the rate of transformation of this raw material, currently from 35% to 50% in 2015.
This loan is the second granted to Ivory Cocoa Product Ltd by the West African Development Bank and it brings to 259 billion 480 million CFA francs, the overall volume of the Bank’s commitments to the private sector funding in Côte d’Ivoire.