Cocoa: Big Demand, Low Supply


News from Panama / Wednesday, August 21st, 2013

This is another area where the Government of Panama should be subsidizing the reforestation of Cocoa trees as the industry can be quite lucrative and good for the Nation as well.

Honduras could sell to Switzerland all of the high quality cocoa that it could produce.

The company Chocolates Halba asked Honduran producers to increase the amount of seed sown to ensure a greater presence in Europe.

“The volume of production is very low, purchase expectations are much higher. At the moment, if there were one thousand tons, then we would buy it, but we are responding to the existing supply of high quality product at the national level,” said Luis Regalado, country representative of Chocolates Halba.

According to Anibal Ayala, president of the Cocoa Producers Association of Honduras (Aprocacaoh) during the 2012-13 harvest 1,200 tons were produced from seed but only 30 tons were exported to Switzerland.