Mahama visits Cocoa Touton Processing Company

President John Dramani Mahama and the visiting Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Haile Mariam Desalegn, have visited and toured the factory of Cocoa Touton Processing Company (CTPC) at the Tema free zone enclave.

The visit to CTPC factory further deepens Ghana-Ethiopia diplomatic ties and consolidates the West African nation's position as the preferred destination for trade and investment on the continent, on account of a stable democracy, respect for the rule of law and an enabling business environment.

The Touton Group is one of the world’s largest traders in cocoa, coffee, vanilla, spices and a variety of natural ingredients, using a network of exporting subsidiaries. The company crowned its over-40 year trade relations with Ghana by investing in a multi-million-euro cocoa processing facility in the country last year, joining the list of very few companies producing cocoa liquor for export.

Cocoa Touton Processing Company, in Ghana, currently produces 30,000 tonnes of processed cocoa and exports to countries in Europe, the USA and Middle East with a turnover of US$80,000,000.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Touton Group, Olivier Lieutard, emphasised the importance of both countries to the company’s operations.

“Besides trading in Ghana cocoa, Touton has also been trading with Ethiopia in coffee over the past ten years. Ghana and Ethiopia respectively produce the most premium quality cocoa and coffee in the world,” he said.

Lieutard paid glowing tribute to the Ghanaian government and Ghana Cocoa Board for their support and consistent supply of cocoa beans, which has helped Touton maintain operations at optimum capacity since the facility was established.

The Touton group took over an existing factory built in 2007 in April last year, and became Cocoa Touton Processing Company. It currently has 135 employees.