President commissions cocoa processing factory

PRESIDENT John Agyekum Kufuor yesterday commissioned the Barry Callebaut Cocoa Processing Facility, Africa’s most advanced cocoa factory, at the Tema Free Zone Enclave.

The factory, which is the 25th of the Barry Callebaut conglomerate, has state-of-the-art machinery and equipment and is the first factory to become operational in the Free Zone Enclave. It is also the first factory to be commissioned by President Kufuor since he assumed office and declared the Golden Age of Business.

About ?8.5 million has been sunk into the project and according to the Chief Executive and Chairman of Barry Callebaut AG, Mr Andeas Schmid, the board of directors intend to sink ?6 million more next year to bring the total export earning of the company to $50 million by the second year of its operation.

The factory, which employs 75 workers, is situated at the Tema Industrial Park, which has been developed by International Land Development Company Limited, as part of the Free Zone enclave.

Enterprises located in the Tema Industrial Park are required by law to export 70 per cent of their products and the remaining 30 per cent to the local market.

President Kufuor, in a speech before he toured the factory, said everything about the factory makes it exciting from his government’s perspective.

The President said it is unfortunate that in spite of Ghana being acknowledged as the producers of the best quality cocoa beans, “we have been unable to earn as much as we could have from the crop”.

The President said the fact “that we have not been able to establish processing factories ourselves and the big chocolate manufacturers have not found it necessary to invest in processing here in Ghana has been a source of worry to us”.

“This has been a matter of great regret to us and I am therefore very happy that Messrs Barry Callebaut decided to site this factory in Ghana”, the President said.

He commended the management of the company for their perseverance and the faith they have demonstrated in Ghana, despite the initial problems they encountered in establishing the factory.

President Kufuor said he was particularly happy that it took just one year to build the factory, the foundation stone having been laid on November 16, last year.

The President said what the economy is looking for is a wide variety of export-oriented companies, especially those that will add value to their products, and thereby create wealth for the country.

“My government is fully committed to the idea that the private sector should be the main engine of growth,” he said.

The Chief Executive of Barry Callebaut, Anreas Schmid, said “our decision to invest in Ghana three years ago has been proved right”.

He said the company will dedicate resources to support the Cocoa Research Institute at Tafo since cocoa produced in Ghana has proved to be the best on the international market.

Mr Schmid announced the board’s decision to invest ?5 million more next year to increase production to 60,000 tonnes per year.

The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei, said the establishment of the plant shows that Ghana is spearheading industrial modernisation in the ECOWAS sub-region.

He said the free zone programme has created the congenial environment for investment in Ghana and expressed the hope that more companies will be located in the zone in the very near future.

Mr K. Sarpong, Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), said since the first two bags of cocoa from the then Gold Coast was shipped to Hamburg, Germany, more than a century ago, the country has not processed the greater portion of its cocoa to add value.

He said the COCOBOD is determined to encourage investors to establish factories to process and to export first class products to the world market.

Mr Jack Sinclair, an executive of Barry Callebaut, said the establishment of the factory marks a major shift in the cocoa industry worldwide since the company is the largest buyer of Ghana’s cocoa beans.

The Paramount Chief of Kpone Traditional Area, Nii Tetteh Otu II, on whose land the factory is situated, urged the management to consider the people of the area in its recruitment drive.

He gave the assurance that the traditional council will co-operate with the management to ensure the success of the company.

The Chief Executive of the Ghana Investment Pomotion Centre(GIPC), Mr Kwasi Abeasi, commended the former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Dan Abodakpi, and the current Minister of Finance, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, and the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, for their resilience and commitment to the establishment of the factory.