The Hindu Business Line : Global exporters outsource cocoa needs from Campco

THE Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd, Mangalore, seems to have taken cue from the current buzzword of Indian industry - outsourcing. It is exporting a considerable amount of finished cocoa products to Australian and European markets, to be sold in the brand name of the companies there.

At a time when multi-national companies are focusing their attention on Indian customers for their products such as chocolates and éclairs, Campco is able to get export orders for finished cocoa products from Australia, the UK, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, east and west African countries, and West Asian countries.

Campco officials claim that the chocolate factory of the multi-state cooperative, located in Puttur of Dakshina Kannada district, is the biggest unit in the Southeast Asia with modern equipment.

At present, the chocolate unit is manufacturing nearly 700 tonnes of moulded cocoa products a year. Of this, it is exporting nearly 300 tonnes to other nations. Plans are on to increase the manufacturing capacity to 1,000 tonnes this year.

Campco sources told Business Line that they are expecting more Australian orders for moulded products. Campco has already exported 20 containers of cocoa products to Australia.

Sources said that "Winner" - a drinking chocolate product of the cooperative - has been well received by the West African market. The product is sold under a different brand name there. Asked about the reason for the success of the product in the international market, they pointed out at the uniqueness of the technology used for the product.

There are now plans to double the production capacity of drinking chocolate products. Last year, the plant produced 100 tonnes of drinking chocolate products, and is planning to increase it to 200 tonnes this year. There is also demand for another 100 tonnes of drinking chocolate in the international market and the cooperative is planning to explore this potential.

The Puttur chocolate unit is manufacturing around 200 tonnes of éclairs every month, and has plans to increase it to 250 tonnes a month.

During 2003-04, the factory crushed around 2,500 tonnes of dry cocoa beans. There are plans to crush around 3,000 tonnes of dry cocoa beans this year. Apart from this, the factory can crush another 3,000 tonnes of cocoa beans, and some agencies have evinced interest in this regard.

In addition to the finished cocoa products, Campco has received export orders for products such as cocoa butter and cocoa powder.

Recently, Campco exported 20 tonnes of cocoa butter to Rockart Enterprises, Monaco, through New Mangalore Port. There was also export order for 100 tonnes of cocoa butter from Ceres International Ltd of Singapore.

More Stories on : Plantations | Exports & Imports | Outsourcing

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