December 2, 2014

Peru-based United Cacao, the world’s first listed cocoa producer, saw its floatation this week on the London exchange give the company a stock market valuation of £23 million. United Cacao plans to become the world’s biggest cocoa supplier targeting total plantation area of 3,250 hectares. Dennis Melka, United Cacao chairman and chief executive was also behind the listing of Malaysian palm oil group, Asian Plantations, which began with a valuation of £20 million in 2009 and sold last month for £110 million – giving a return of 24% to its investors. Mr. Melka states that cocoa production is down in Malaysia and Indonesia, and state buying monopolies in Ivory Coast and Ghana are holding back industry expansion through exorbitant export taxes. However in Peru, there is no corporate income tax, zero export taxes, and vibrant research into the development of the cocoa bean, such as the disease resistant CCN 51 variety which has been labeled a ‘game changer’ for the industry. Demand scenarios are positive as well – Chinese per capita consumption of cocoa is 0.05 kg per year – 2% of U.S. consumption and 1% of Belgium’s or Switzerland’s consumption, and Euromonitor forecasts that China’s consumption will increase by 40% between 2013 and 2018. To read further:

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