COCOBOD Restructures Debt Payment Plan with CPC, WAMCo

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is confident of an eventual repayment of all outstanding debts owed it by institutions that rely on its supplies.

The industry regulator believes the new terms should also afford such debtors, time to turn around their operations to grow the cocoa industry.

The Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) and the West African Mills Company, (WAMCo) have been indebted to COCOBOD for some time now.

For instance, the CPC owes COCOBOD an estimated 48 million dollars for the supply of cocoa beans.

The move led to a temporary halt in the supply of beans to the two institutions.

An earlier agreement with CPC led to the conversion of some of the debt into equity while the repayment period for another fraction, has been re-extended by a couple more years.

But the Public Affairs Manager of COCOBOD, Noah Amenyah tells Citi Business News the new plan should favour all parties.

“There is an arrangement but the main focus is to support our indigenous companies such as CPC to survive. So all efforts are being put in to support both CPC and WAMCo…If someone owes you and you still want to help the person, you restructure the debts.  So there is an approach to allow them repay while they still operate,” Mr. Amenyah clarified.

In a related development, COCOBOD is resolute of meeting its production target for the 2017/2018 crop season despite the cutting of some infested cocoa trees.

An estimated one thousand (1,000) hectares of cocoa farms are expected to be affected by the exercise.

The development will see the destruction of all trees affected by the swollen shoot disease.

The COCOBOD is targeting about eight hundred and fifty thousand (850,000) tonnes of cocoa beans this crop season.

Nonetheless, Noah Amenyah believes the target should not be affected by the cutting of diseases cocoa trees.

“We are embarking on mass pruning and that will last month and that will spark the production of flowers….so we will have hand pollination exercise after… That should compensate for the tree that we are cutting; because the trees on the normal are not yielding much because they are diseased. So cutting it should not affect us that seriously,” he explained.