Ghanaians are black, not choco brown

Ghana produces 20–30% of the world’s cocoa, the best in the world. In love with vanilla and organically grown cocoa, farmers would get higher prices. While Germans per head annually eat 11 kg of chocolate products, Belgians 6–8 kg, Swiss 7–9 kg, Ghanaians only consume 500 g and Chinese 100 g. It is a matter of price and tradition rooted in taste. CPC Cocoa Processing Company Limited, Tema, according to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, produces chocolate too expensive for most Ghanaians. The factory has existed since 1965, when the late German Joachim Burmeister established it on behalf of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. For 61 years, the factory has struggled to make a profit annually, subsidised with USD 12–14 million. It is still an SOE, a State‑owned Enterprise run by party heavyweights.

To produce chocolate is a matter of money and recipes. The art of success is in marketing. Food products are subject to local or national tastes and preferences. What is loved and cherished in one country might not work in another. Coca‑Cola has different recipes for each national market, as do McDonald’s and Burger King. To sit in the Tema CPC Ltd offices thinking about outside markets never worked in the past nor will it work in the future. To be in the market, communicating with corporate buyers and listening to trends by observing consumers, opens the road to success.

The money for chocolate is not in Africa but in the world of the white man. President John Dramani Mahama has announced that from 2026 to 2027, 50% of Ghana’s cocoa will be processed into chocolate products, and by 2030, up to 100%. The world can buy chocolate products from many brands known for generations. Why should any consumer in Europe, Russia, China, the USA, etc., buy chocolate “Made in Ghana”? Only because it is made in Ghana? Even if the price is a bit lower than the traditional chocolate products consumers already enjoy, it will not find enough buyers to run a chocolate factory capacity of an additional 300,000–400,000 tons by 2030.

Marketing and communication with the various markets is key. Why has Ghana, for 61 years, not spoken?