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Management of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has debunked claims that will lose GHC 300 million because cocoa beans have been allowed to rot at Takoradi Port.

The company states emphatically that such reports are "pure fabrication, of malicious intent and must be disregarded as such".

In a statement issued by the Public Affairs Department of the COCOBOD, there are no rotten cocoa beans neither is the company losing such amount of money.

The management therefore sought to set the records straight, explaining that "Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) is a subsidiary of COCOBOD which is responsible for the take-over, warehousing and sale of cocoa beans. Cocoa beans are received in bags and largely shipped in same. There are however, some buyers who require that cocoa is shipped in bulk as naked beans. Such shipment is only done at Takoradi Port as mega bulk by means of a facility owned by Katoen Natie which is a normal trade practice of the CMC. The beans can be bagged at any time to meet other contracts for supply".

The company further noted that 24000 tonnes of cocoa, stored in the Katoen Natie Warehouse, has been sold to buyers and awaiting onward shipment.

"The claim that COCOBOD could not get the appropriate clearance is false. It must also be stated that no government official gave any instruction to CMC to halt such operations. The re-bagging of the beans which was necessitated to meet buyers’ shipment instructions commenced on 21st June, 2017. Under no circumstance was the re-bagging done because the beans had caked as alleged", the management added.

COCOBOD therefore seeks to assure the general public that there is no cause for alarm.