Government has announced a joint partnership deal with China to produce 50,000 tonnes of cocoa beans into chocolate in a year.
This would be done with the construction of a 100 million dollar chocolate factory at Sefwi-Wiaso in the Western North region.
The 100 million dollar chocolate factory is expected to help the country add value to its cocoa beans before export. The agreement between Ghana and China is also expected to be signed soon in Accra.
Ghana has agreed with China to bring 60 million dollars whiles Ghana looks for Ghanaian investors who will bring 40 million dollars.
According to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the selection of the Western North Region is due to the Region being one of the major cocoa growing areas contributing to the export earning of the commodity to the Country.
Ghana currently produces less than 15 percent of the beans for cocoa products such as chocolate. This has negatively impacted on the consumption of locally made chocolate in the country.
Ghana’s major producer of chocolate, the Cocoa Processing Company produces just about 2000 metric tonnes of chocolate annually.
Meanwhile, the global chocolate market is worth some 103.28 billion dollars and have been estimated to reach approximately 161.56 billion dollars by 2024.
