afrol News, 1 April - Ghanaian cocoa processor company has completed the five year expansion programme that will more than double its processing capacity, the company statement said. The company is now able to handle 64,500 metric tonnes of cocoa as compared to 25,000 tonnes per annum.

The expansion, which was in two phases, and began in 2003 was offset with a loan of €22 million and an additional $22 million dollars plus a local component of GH¢1.67 million (US$117.84).

The managing director of the company, Richard Amarh Tetteh, said the final phase of the expansion was completed in the third quarter of CPC's 2007/2008 financial year, after a year's delay and that the company had since been ready to run at full steam.

He said despite the tough global economic experiences in 2007 and 2008, the company managed to operate profitably and was able to complete the final phase of its expansion programme in the third quarter of the 2007/08 financial year.

According to Ghana News Agency, the first phase which entailed the construction of a new plant to process 30,000 tonnes of cocoa into liquor was commissioned in 2005.

“The second project involved the upgrading of the old cocoa factory to process 34,500 tonnes of cocoa beans, up from its 1965 installed capacity of 25,000 tonnes,” the local media reported.

Ghana, the world’s second-biggest cocoa grower exports about 95 percent of its semi-finished products to Europe and the Americas with the rest shared among Asia and Africa through the CPC.

CPC, formerly wholly-owned by the state, was partially privatised after the government off-loaded 25 percent of its stake and got listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange in February 2003.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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