“Even if thePhilippinescan achieve its goal of producing its target of 100,000 tons in 2020, that figure still cannot meet both domestic and huge global demand for cocoa,” Loh said.
A MALAYSIAN trader who had been buying cacao beans from Asian producing countries for many years expressed optimism that this southern Philippine city will soon become one ofAsia’s major cocoa supplier to the world market.
Godfrey Loh, operations director of The Armajaro Group, one of the world’s biggest cacao trading company based inKuala Lumpur, said he has become “excited” about the current developments taking place among small farmers in the emergingDavaocacao industry here.
“This is a perfect place for cacao production. There’s no extreme weather like typhoons here, rainfall is good, the soil is perfect, and there are still huge farm areas for expansion,” Loh told mediamen here.
As a key cacao trader in Asia, Loh regularly travels around the region, buying cacao beans from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and the Philippines to supply the cocoa processing plants in Malaysia, Japan, US and Europe.
“We simply can’t get enough cacao beans here inAsiaeven to supply the large cocoa processing industry in the Asian region,” Loh said.
The Armajaro executive said he is presently buying the fermented cocoa beans produced by Golden Sunset Farms owned by Charita Puentespina in Malagos, Calinan and the CSI Trade Ventures owned by cacao farmers ofSan Isidrotown In Davao del Norte and managed by Dante Muyco, a former official of the Department of Trade and Industry.
Loh said he has given assurances toDavaocacao farmers that his Malaysian company is ready to buy all the cacao beans produced in this region over the next ten years as thousands of farmers vowed to plant a total of 58 million cacao trees to produce 100,000 metric tons of cacao beans.
Some Davao farmers have expressed fears that cacao buyers may not be around to buy all their cacao beans by the time when all their cacao trees
are ready for harvest, estimated to be around ten years from now.
“Even if thePhilippinescan achieve its goal of producing its target of 100,000 tons in 2020, that figure still cannot meet both domestic and huge global demand for cocoa,” Loh said.
PHILPRESS NEWS
Posted on May 3, 2011
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