Cocoa
Processing
Company
(CPC)
Company Profile and History
The
CPC
was
incorporated
in
November
1981
as
a
Limited
Liability
Company.
The
Company
comprises
two
factories,
namely
The
Cocoa
Factory
and
The
Confectionery
Factory.
The
CPC
factories
process
only
the
choicest
premium
Ghana
cocoa
beans.
In
2002
CPC's
position
as
one
of
the
world's
best
chocolate
producers
was
re-confirmed
at
the
Monde
Selection
Competition
held
in
Paris,
France.
At
this
Competition
all
its
seven
brands
of
chocolate
and
ALLTIME
Drinking
chocolate
powder
won
gold
medals.
CPC
is
listed
on
the
stock
index
of
the
Ghana
Stock
Exchange,
the
GSE
All-Share
Index.
The
company
now
has
cocoa
beans
throughput
capacity
of
64,500
tonnes,
up
from
an
initial
installed
capacity
of
25,000
tonnes.
The
German
company
MAN
Ferrostaal
AG
was
commissioned
in
2004
to
update
and
expand
the
facilities
of
the
Company.
MAN
selected
Buhler
(Chocolate
&
Cocoa)
as
the
technical
partner
for
handling
the
project.
The
new
cocoa
processing
facility,
which
opened
in
October
2005,
has
a
capacity
of
four
metric
tons
per
hour
and
is
fully
computer-controlled.
This
makes
it
the
most
advanced
plant
of
its
kind
in
Africa.
In Country Location
Plot
No.
IND/A/10/1,
Cocoa
Processing
Road,
Heavy
Industrial
Area,
Tema,
Ghana;
Telephone:
+233-(0)22-212153
Telefax:
+233-(0)22-206657
Services and Products
The
Cocoa
Factory
processes
raw
cocoa
beans
into
semi-finished
products-cocoa
liquor,
butter,
natural/alkalized
cake
or
powder
whilst
the
Confectionery
Factory
manufactures
the
Golden
Tree
chocolate
bars,
couverture,
pebbles
(chocolate
coated
peanut),
VITACO
and
ALLTIME
drinking
chocolate
Powder,
ChocoDelight
(Chocolate
spread),
ChocoBake
and
Royale
natural
cocoa
powder.
The
CPC
factories
process
only
the
choicest
premium
Ghana
cocoa
beans
without
any
blending,
probably
the
only
factory
in
the
world
which
can
make
such
a
claim.
Number of Employees
430
employees
Financial Information
CPC declared revenue of 59.3 million cedis ($42.5 million) for the 2007/08 financial year which runs from September to September, saying its operations were hampered by high costs as a result of the rise in oil prices. The company declared a net profit of 1.27 million cedis in 2007/08, compared to 647,193 cedis in the previous year. Unreliable power supply also contributed to operational costs which rose by 22 percent. Projected revenue for 2008/09 is $208 million.
Market Share
Currently,
CPC
exports
about
95
percent
of
its
semi-finished
products
to
Europe
and
the
Americas
of
a
total
of
approximately
550,000
exported
by
Ghana.
Cocoa
makes
up
20%
of
Ghana's
total
exports.
According
to
the
International
Cocoa
Organisation
(ICCO)
the
country's
commercial
crop
in
2005/2006
reached
a
record
high
of
646,000t.
Ghana’s
cocoa
production
for
the
2007/08
crop
season
was
758,908
tonnes,
significantly
above
the
forecast
of
650,000
tonnes.
CPC
produces
21,810
MT
annually.
Business Objective
The
Company’s
main
objective
is
to
process
cocoa
beans
by
adding
value
to
them.
Business Model
The
Company
focused
on
an
expansion
programme
which
increased
its
cocoa
throughout
capacity
from
the
original
25,000
metric
tonnes
per
annum
to
64,000
metric
tonnes
per
annum.
In
addition
CPC
only
deals
with
buyers
on
a
spot-sale
contract
basis
which
is
aimed
at
reducing
the
company's
exposure
to
the
volatility
of
the
international
cocoa
trade.
As
a
result
of
the
Company's
continuing
product
development
activities,
a
new
product
namely,
Royale
Natural
Cocoa
Powder
was
launched
in
August
2005.
The
popularity
of
the
product
within
the
few
months
of
its
introduction
has
been
phenomenal.
CPC
is
pursuing
various
research
activities
geared
at
offering
consumers
a
wider
range
of
chocolate
products
and
to
grow
revenue.
Through
strategic
marketing
efforts,
the
Company
was
able
to
realize
reasonable
margins
on
its
semi-finished
cocoa
products.
The
Company's
effort
at
repositioning
the
Marketing
Department
to
make
it
better
able
to
move
large
volumes
of
products
onto
the
market
is
ongoing.
Ghana,
the
world's
second
biggest
cocoa
grower,
is
further
encouraging
firms
to
grind
beans
locally
rather
than
shipping
raw
cocoa
overseas,
as
it
aims
to
draw
greater
income
from
making
and
selling
value-added
products.
Ownership of Business
CPC,
formerly
wholly-owned
by
the
state,
was
partially
privatised
after
the
government
offloaded
25
percent
of
its
stake
and
listed
it
on
the
Ghana
Stock
Exchange
in
February
2003.
The
government
owns
about
48
percent
of
CPC’s
shares,
with
state-run
industry
regulator
Ghana
Cocoa
Board
controlling
about
22
percent.
Benefits Offered and Relations with Government
Ghana
is
the
only
cocoa
producing
country
in
the
world
without
a
fully
liberalised
marketing
system.
In
the
early
1990s,
the
Ghanaian
government
opted
for
a
gradual
introduction
of
reforms,
which
have
so
far
included
only
the
liberalisation
of
internal
marketing,
privatisation
of
input
distribution
(for
example,
chemicals)
and
reform
of
extension
services.
Thus,
Ghana’s
state-owned
Marketing
Board
(Cocobod)
still
controls
external
marketing.
The
Quality
Control
Division,
a
subsidiary
of
Cocobod,
is
responsible
for
the
final
quality
checks
of
cocoa
beans.
Ghana
produces
good
quality
cocoa,
for
which
it
receives
a
premium
on
the
world
market.
Through
a
system
of
forward
sales,
Cocobod
still
manages
to
pre-finance
cocoa
production,
and
price
stabilisation
has
remained
intact.
The
Ghanaian
economy
is
heavily
dependent
on
cocoa
exports
so
the
government
is
loath
to
relinquish
control;
private
buyers
rely
on
government
licences
to
operate;
and
global
buyers
are
guaranteed
a
good-quality
product.
The
liberalisation
of
internal
marketing
started
in
1992
with
the
introduction
of
private
Licensed
Buying
Companies
(LBCs)
as
competitors
to
the
state-owned
monopoly
in
buying
cocoa
from
farmers.
After
introducing
competition
in
the
internal
marketing
of
cocoa,
the
government
decided
to
allow
qualified
LBCs
to
export
part
of
their
cocoa
purchases
from
October
2000.
Officially,
LBCs
are
allowed
to
export
30%
of
their
domestic
purchases,
if
they
meet
the
conditions
set
by
the
Ghanaian
Ministry
of
Finance.
The
idea
behind
the
gradual
pace
of
the
reforms
was
that
this
transition
period
would
allow
LBCs
to
become
familiar
and
acquire
the
necessary
skills
for
effective
external
marketing.
The
transition
period
was
to
have
ended
in
2003,
with
a
final
decision
on
whether
to
proceed
or
not
with
full
liberalisation
of
the
external
market.
But
the
process
has
stalled.
No
formal
decision
on
full
liberalisation
has
been
taken.
Ghana
has
traditionally
exported
almost
its
entire
crop
of
cocoa
beans
for
processing
to
foreign
chocolate
production
plants.
This
policy
changed
in
mid-2003
with
a
new
administration
under
President
John
Agyekum
Kufuor
setting
the
goal
of
broadening
the
Ghanaian
cocoa
business
by
investing
in
national
cocoa
processing
facilities.
CPC
was
chosen
in
early
2004
to
be
updated
and
expanded
as
the
first
step
of
consolidating
the
cocoa
business
inside
Ghana.
The
Ghanaian
Government
has
pledged
to
increase
bean
production
to
over
one
million
tons.
Taxation
is
as
follows:
Corporate
tax
-
8%
on
export
income,
25%
for
hotels
and
35%
for
others;
locational
incentive
-
25-50%
tax
rebates;
tax
holidays-indefinite
for
cocoa
farming;
and
tariff
exemption-100%
duty
exemption
for
production
equipment.
Product Development
In late 2008 CPC completed its expansion programme that has more than doubled its throughput. The company now has cocoa beans throughput capacity of 64,500 tonnes, up from an initial installed capacity of 25,000 tonnes. The expansion, which was in two phases, began in 2003 with a loan of Euros 22 million and an additional $22 million, plus a local component of GH¢1.67 million. 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 semi-finished cocoa products, up from its 1965 installed capacity of 25,000 tonnes.