Processing companies owe us $131 million – COCOBOD

daniel russell

July 30, 2015 3:41 PM

The board is threatening to cut supply of cocoa beans to these processing companies if they fail to honour their payment obligations.

The management of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) says the company’s operation may come to a halt due to the non-payment of some $131 million debt owed it by some cocoa processing companies.

The companies are West African Mills Company, WAMCO, Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), Real Commodities, Afrotropic and Plot enterprise.

According to the Director of Public Affairs at COCOBOD, Noah Amenyah who spoke to Citi News, the board is threatening to cut supply of cocoa beans to these processing companies if they fail to honour their payment obligations.

He however added that it has initiated moves with these companies for alternative payment plans to avert any cut in supplies.

“At the beginning of 2014, these companies owed COCOBOD $210 million so we put in place a system to collect the money. Some of them were able to pay the monies but some five are still owing COCOBOD.”

“We are talking about $131 million so COCOBOD has asked all the companies taking things from it to proceed with bank guarantees before the beans are given. Meanwhile the companies are supposed to be paying on account so that we re-establish the relationship and give them beans to process. We think that we should bring this out as a way of asking them to make good their payment to allow the board to run smoothly”, he said.

Mr. Amenyah lamented that because a number of companies owe them, COCOBOD may not be able to execute programmes it had initiated.

“COCOBOD is undertaking a number of activities in the cocoa sector which includes building cocoa roads, free fertilizes to farmers, chemicals for pest and disease control, scholarships and other activities. So if we have such an amount locked up somewhere it means that we cannot do it to the extent that we want to do,” he noted.

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daniel russell