Malaysia aims to triple its cocoa output to 100,000 tonnes by 2015 from around 32,000 tonnes in 2007 to meet demand from the country's grinding sector, a senior industry official said on Thursday.
"We are quite ambitious. Whether we achieve it or not is a different story," Azhar Ismail, director-general of the Malaysian Cocoa Board, told Reuters on the sidelines of an international cocoa conference on the island resort of Bali. "We are targeting about 100,000 tonnes by 2015. We are expecting our grinding to reach 360,000 around 2010," he said.
Malaysia is Asia's largest cocoa grinder but it depends on imported beans mainly from neighbouring Indonesia because of a lack of domestic supply. The country was a main bean producer with output reaching as high as 247,000 tonnes in 1990, but production has since declined as more areas converted into oil palm, dealers said.
Malaysia is the world's largest palm oil producer. The country's cocoa grindings are expected to reach around 270,000 tonnes. Malaysia's cocoa output was expected to rise slightly to 32,000 tonnes in 2007 from 30,000 tonnes in 2006 as a rehabilitation programme was under way, said Ismail.
"It takes a few more years before they are in full bearing. It's not replanting but you do side grafting," said Ismail, referring to a technique of gradually replacing old branches with new shoots.
In addition to the rehabilitation programme, the government also aimed to increase productivity and encourage more players to enter the cocoa industry so that the output target of 100,000 tonnes could be achieved, he said.
Ismail denied speculation that more and more cocoa farmers have shifted to palm oil, whose prices reached record-highs this year. "The trend is more in the estates but not small holders. Cocoa right now is basically a side income for the farmers. Cocoa farmers are not solely depending on cocoa as the source of income," he said.
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