Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd (CAMPCO) is working to enhance its cocoa processing capacity to boost chocolate production and industrial sales.
The cooperative, which has posted all-time high profit of Rs. 60 crore and registered another all-time high turnover of Rs. 1,540 crore in 2014-15, will add a 3,000-tonne chocolate-mixing plant to its existing 8,000-tonne plant, said CAMPCO president Konkodi Padmanabha.Speaking to presspersons here on Saturday, Mr. Padmanabha said that while the cooperative’s area of operation (membership, procurement etc) is confined to Kerala and Karnataka, it has is pan-India regarding marketing.
Its chocolate products have strong presence in southern India, Madhya Pradesh as well as the Himalayan States like Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, he said.
Prices of arecanut have risen constantly, from Rs. 78 and Rs. 93 a kg for white and red arecanut in 2010-11 to Rs. 330 and Rs. 405 respectively, he said. The cooprative’s annual turnover has increased from Rs. 589.96 crore to Rs. 1,540 crore and the profit from Rs. 19.16 crore to Rs. 60 crore.
While Rs. 497.67 crore worth of arecanut had been procured in 2010-11, it had now increased to Rs. 1,241.78 crore.
Similarly the sales also increased from Rs. 487.02 crore to Rs. 1,292.77 crore, he said. Sales of chocolates also grew from Rs. 30.25 crore to Rs. 54 crore.
CAMPCO’s sale of industrial products (cocoa powder, cocoa butter, plain chocolates etc.), rose from Rs. 50.34 crore to Rs. 129.04 crore, Mr. Padmanabha said.
He added that cocoa is bought at Rs. 65 per kg as against the Rs. 55 offered by multinational chocolate companies.
CAMPCO Vice President Satishchandra Bhandari and others were present.
Posts Rs. 60 crore net profit in 2014-15, registers Rs. 1,540 crore turnover
