The 12th Meeting of the ASEAN Cocoa Club (ACC) to Enhance intra-ASEAN Cocoa Trade

Aiming to strenghten as well as to improve the intra-ASEAN trade on cocoa and cocoa based products, the ASEAN Cocoa Club (ACC) held its 12th Meeting of National Focal Point, at Renaissance Hotel Kuala Lumpur recently.

The two-days meeting were held to highlight the formulation of ASEAN Cocoa Contract on the Tariffs and Non-Tariff Barriers of Cocoa Beans and Cocoa Products, based on the formation of Technical Working Group on Food Safety (TWGFS), on bean quality, report by Codex Committee on cocoa products and chocolate, cooperation on Cocoa Progeny and clones trials, and activities sector’s involvement.

Officiated by Y.B Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin, Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, who said in his opening address,”…the ASEAN countries ranked as the third largest grower and producer of cocoa beans in the world and the largest in Asia. With an estimated cocoa production of 547,900 tonnes, ASEAN accounted for about 16% of the world total cocoa production 2008/09. In terms of total cocoa grinding in ASEAN is estimated at 520,000 tonnes, accounting for about 14% of the total world cocoa grinding in 2008/09. Therefore, we need to work closely to address the decline in demand for chocolate and chocolate products in our traditional markets like United States of America and Europe by strenghtening our efforts to develop new markets, such as, encouraging the People’s Republic of China and India to consume more cocoa…”.

Meanwhile, Y.B. Dato’ Dr. Azhar Ismail, Director General of Malaysian Cocoa Board, elaborated the purpose of the meeting by saying,”…Despite facing many challenges such as stringent requirements imposed on food safety by EU and Japan as well as the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) permitted on cocoa of which is technically impossible to comply. Most of the importing countries have been implementing their own food safety standards which are not imline with the CODEX Standard. Therefore, the ASEAN countries as a group should request that the importing countries to use the CODEX Standard as reference for food safety regulations…”.