(Ecofin Agency) - Ghana’s Cocoa Board (Cocobod) is currently in talks with Exim Bank China to secure a $500 million loan, Reuters reported citing two senior officials who asked not to be named.

This facility should be repaid over five years with a 2-year grace period. It will be used to finance many medium and long projects aiming to make the local cocoa sector less vulnerable to global price volatility.

In details, the projects include the construction of storage facilities, the expansion of cocoa-processing factories, construction of railways and roads to facilitate transport in cocoa-producing areas as well as the development of irrigation projects to boost yields.  

In parallel to the loan talks, the sources interviewed by Reuters indicated that the regulator has initiated talks regarding the commercialization of Ghanaian semi-finished cocoa products in China.

This new move by the Cocobod falls under a group of measures initiated since the beginning of this year to better cope with price volatility.   

The country which exports about 80% of its output as raw beans, submitted, jointly with its neighbor, Ivory Coast, a demand for a $1.2 billion loan to AfDB to establish a buffer stock and asked in July also for Switzerland’s support in its processing industry. 

Espoir Olodo