The Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) Ghana Limited has secured firm offtake commitments across the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia for Ghana’s semi-finished cocoa products, in a move that strengthens the commercial footing of the country’s push toward domestic value addition under President John Dramani Mahama’s 50 percent local processing mandate.

The commitments, secured by CMC Managing Director Wisdom Kofi Dogbey (D.Min, D.Hum) during a series of engagements with leading Gulf commodities institutions and processing bodies, are aimed at guaranteeing demand for cocoa liquor, butter, cake, and powder produced from Ghana’s existing and currently underutilised grinding capacity.

By locking in buyers before output ramps up, CMC is moving to close one of the mandate’s biggest commercial gaps: ensuring that higher domestic grindings convert into secured export earnings rather than unsold stock.

Dubai: A Sourcing-to-Shelf Blueprint

In Dubai, Dr. Dogbey met the leadership of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre’s (DMCC) coffee and tea membership, which runs a fully integrated model, sourcing raw materials directly from producers and converting them into finished consumer goods. A dedicated DMCC cocoa membership is expected to commence, and both sides treated the discussions as a template for how Ghana’s cocoa could enter comparable value chains in the region.

Ahmad Hamza, a senior DMCC executive, described the proposed push to expand cocoa export into the UAE as win-win.