The Ghana Cocoa (COCBOD) has clarified that the country’s importation of cocoa beans from neighbouring countries is an industry practice spanning over 20 years.

A letter sighted by citinewsroom.com, signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, and addressed to Afrotropic Cocoa Processing Company Limited, gives it the green light to import cocoa beans.

Afrotropic Cocoa Processing Company is to import 2,500 cocoa beans from Ivory Coast and 1,000 from Nigeria.

This move by COCOBOD sparked reactions from stakeholders who expressed concerns about the state of the highest exporter now becoming an importer.

In response to this, COCOBOD, in a statement, stated that the practice is not something new.

“All processing companies in Ghana established post November 2001 are permitted by law to import cocoa beans for processing in Ghana. It is an industry practice that has existed for over 20 years to allow factories to import from other countries including, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Nigeria and Ecuador,” COCOBOD clarified.

The practice, COCOBOD explained, helps the companies meet their ‘desired recipes for chocolate production and other uses’, stressing that it also forms part of cost management.

“Ghana’s cocoa is a premium cocoa and as part of cost management and operational strategy, companies often blend premium Ghana Cocoa with less premium cocoa beans from other producing countries.”

COCOBOD bemoaned the content of the letter, which has been misinterpreted, calling on the public to “disregard the false claim deduced from the leaked letter.”