M

Ivory Coast to seize unexported cocoa

BY DANIEL GUMM, with agency reports

M ORE than $1.5 billion worth of

cocoa beans stalled on the piers of the world's largest cocoa producer will be seized by the government if they're not exported by the end of the month, the President of Ivory Coast's cocoa board said Wednesday.

The ultimatum presents an impossible choice to some of the world's largest chocolate producers: either risk breaking European Union sanctions against doing business with sitting President Laurent Gbagbo, or risk having your cocoa beans seized.

Gilbert Ano, President of the Ivorian Cocoa and Coffee Management Committee, said that the state projected tax proceeds of 65 billion West African Francs ($138 million) from the unexported cocoa. If the government does not receive this by the end of the month, he said it will be forced to collect the equivalent amount in cocoa.

All exporters have until the end of the day (Thursday) to declare their stocks to the government, he said.

Major exporters contacted for this story declined to comment on the board's order.

The announcement came two days after Gbagbo announced a plan to nationalise the West African nation's cocoa industry, a move the U.S. said 'amounts to theft."

'It is another desperate act in his campaign to cling to power II spokesman P. J. Crowl~y had told reporters in

Washington. The U.N. declared

Gbagbo the loser of the Novembber 28 presidential vote, but he has refused to cede power despite mternational pressure and maintains control of the country's security forces.

Cocoa exports in Ivory Coast came to a halt in mid-January when internationally recognised President Alassane Ouattara called for an export ban to starve his rival financially.

Most major exporters, including American firms, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland, as well as Swiss firm Barry Callebaut, complied with Ouattara's cocoa ban because the E.U. had put sanctions against Ivory Coast's ports, effectively preventing any exports from leaving the country.

"It's a sign that the (cocoa) ban is beginning to hurt Gbagbo,' said commodities strategist Kona Haque, though she doubted whether the gambit 'would work as Gbagbo will have trouble finding buyers for the beans.

The Cocoa Board estimates 'that more than a third of the beans from the latest harvest - 440,000 tons - are waiting in the two principal ports of Abidjan and. San Pedro for export. In addition to that, 40,000 tons are still on the .farms, said Christophe Douka, president of the mdividual cocoa producers' union.

'We asked Gbagbo to do this because we're being held hostage by

the multinationals," he said. Since Ouattara's export ban in January, the companies stopped buying beans, he said.

While there isn't much left of this harvest, a smaller crop due in Augu st is exp ected to be 450,000 tons, Douka said. "Gbagbo will give us a better price, and the internatIOnals will have to buy from him, they have no choice, It he said.

A similar effort to corner the cocoa market and drive prices up was attempted by Ivory Coast's first president in the late 1980s. It was a complete failure as the nation's entire harvest rotted in warehouses and millions of farmers lost their livelihoods.

"If no cocoa is exported from (Ivory Coast), it will only be a question of time hefore consuming countries run out of stocks," said a joint­statement issued in February by the Federation of Cocoa Commerce and the European Cocoa Association. .

"The impact on both producing and ~onsumin~ cou~tries' mdustries is impossible to predict but it will jeopardize lots of jobs and assets worldwide,l1 the statement said.

The E.U. sanctions were one of a series of efforts by the ·international community to financially isolate Gbagbo's government. The United States froze the assets and issued a travel ban on a list of close Gbagbo allies. Bu t the greatest damage was perhaps caused by the regional central bank, which cut Gbagbo off from state coffers, then prevented all international banks from transferring money in or out of the country.

Frruu right: Chief Executive Officer, AnilSiUl1i Construction Nig. Ltd, HRH' Appolus Chu: Mr. SoolOIUl ChilIJ of Shell PetroJefPlJ Development COmPilIJY ilIJ~ Sales MilI1ager, Shengli C!il Fiefd F.reet Petroleum Equipment Co. Ltd, China.. Mr. Halte Sun at the China-NJgena Suppliers Summit for stakeholders orgamsed by Shell Nigeria in Abuja, recenOy. ..

Vanguard, FRIDA~ MARCH II. 2011 - 29

REGIONAL. ProgriUJlD1e Coordinator, Junior Achievement Nigeria. Mr. Ade!l.bola AbJodun {fouth le.ft}, presenting a certificate of participation to DiUl1iJola Adeleke of Victona IslilIJd Senoir Secondary School. With them are the school teacher, Mr. Oyedemi MJcheaJ, Human ResoUICl¥1'rogramme Officer, Junior Achievement, Nigeria. Miss Rita David, and other students of the school, during the JA Be Entreprenuerial lIatning {last batch} sponsored by UPS Foundation, held at the school's premises, Victoria Island Lagos, Wednesday.

ECOWAS calls for improved quality of agro .. based products E COWAS

Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Ousseini Salifou, has stressed the need for . ECOWAS member states to improve on the quality of their agro-based products with the aim of mcreasing national and intra-community trade.

The commissioner was addressing the opening of a six-day 'sensitisation workshop on the creation and/or strengthening of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS) committees and training of trainers on science-based arguments' recently. in Bamako.

The workshop seeks to raise awareness on the

PAN-SPSO project and the issue of participation of African countries at international standards­setting meetings. PAN­SP::;O is a three-year collaboration project between the European Union, Afncan, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Secretariat, the African Union Commission and the regional economic communities (RECs).

The project involves 47 ACP countries and is being implemented in partnership with seven regional economic communities (RECs).

The workshop is also to raise awareness on the need to strengthen and/or establish national committees on SPS as well as enhance participants' knowledge

on how to develop and review standards and mechanisms for contributions from member states.

Mr. Salifou told the participants that while it was mandatory to meet international requirements on standards towards the export of products from West Africa, attention should also be paid to the same standards in order to increase national and regional trade and make them more competitive.

While recalling the December 2005 adoption of the regional agncultural policy (ECOWAP), which emphasises food and nutritional security, he stated.

Chu hails Shell's China-Nigeria suppliers summit BY £TOP EICANEM

SHELL Petroleum Development

Comp~ny, SPDC, in Nigeria recently held its 2011 . edition of the China-Nigeria Suppliers Summit to support the development of the capacity· of Nigerian vendors in the Oil and Gas industry.

The summit, which br.oug:ht together Nigenans and Chinese investors, focussed on investment and partnership opportunities towards the realisation of the goals and aspirations of the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry Content Development Act 2010.

Held at Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja, the summit no doubt had stakeholders in 'the ind~!>try expressed their aspuatIOns, challenges and expectations as well as the benefits they hoped the summit may

likely yield_ One of the

stakeholders, Chief Executive Office~ Anasami Construction Nig. Ltd, HRH Appolus Chu,. who spoke on the occasion, described the summit as a very interesting one, noting that it would be of great ~efit to his company as a stakeholder and the nation generally.

Chu who said the summit Was mainly for capacity building in the oil industry, noted: ''Where you are weak in industry, the summit gives you the opportunity to interact with other people who are stronger m certam areas, so that you can come together and work together for expansion ..

Speaking further, the Anasarni Construction CEO said: "When you are looking for opportunities in a wider scale, then you need to partner with companies that have the resources

that you need to apply to step up to the next level. And in doing this, you need recommendation,strong profile and credihility."

Chu said, however, that the reason some Nigerian firms were not doing so well as expected Was because they chose to do everything alone. "We must realise' that industries that are successful today are those who worked along with other companies or organisations for expansion". Chu said the summit would provide local companies the opportunity to talk with foreign partners for the development of local industries.

His company, Anasami Construction Nig. Ltd, which is into pipeline and maintenance of oil facilities in Nigerian oil industry, Chu said, had over time been given the platform to excel by Shell.