Tema, Feb. 14, GNA –The Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) says it doubled its monthly production of about 250 metric tonnes of chocolate and other cocoa products to avoid shortage of products on market.
The same increment was also done for the month of December to make room for the high demand of the products during Christmas and Valentine’s Day National Chocolate Day commemoration, respectively.
Mr Ekow Rhule, Head of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility CPC in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said CPC started preparation for the chocolate day from November 2021, to prevent shortages on the market as it learned some lessons from the challenges, they recorded in the first two years of the initiative, in 2005.
The National Chocolate Day was instituted by the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) in 2005 to be celebrated on February 14 to boost the consumption of Ghanaian Chocolate and other cocoa products, especially when sharing the love on valentine’s day.
Mr Rhule explained that the National Chocolate Day initiative had boosted the consumption of cocoa locally and has led to an increase in CPC’s production as it was producing 3,000 metric tonnes of products annually compared to the 1,000 metric tonnes it used to do before the initiative.
He added that the Company had a target to produce 15,000 metric tonnes of products annually in the near future.
Touching on the products available on the market, he said even though they had some delayed production of the 20grams packs last week as the machine was working slowly, the challenge had been resolved and enough of the chocolates were available in addition to the 50 and 100 grams.
He said more special packages especially for the month of love and chocolate day have been introduced in red attractive packaging, which had a lesser number of quantities to fit every consumer’s pocket.
Mr Rhule said that there were other products including Chocolate Pebbles, Spread, Aspire which were sugar-free chocolates, pure white premium chocolates, which contained varieties of nuts, heritage chocolate with nibs, instant cocoa drinking powder, and royale natural cocoa.
He noted that they also customized their products for companies and individuals for celebrations and other occasions including weddings, parties, anniversaries, and funerals.
He reminded the public that cocoa had many health benefits and encouraged them to consume more cocoa-based products, especially the ones produced in Ghana, stressing that “consume more cocoa products to boost your immune system.”
GNA