Intra-African trade is a nightmare, but advancing it is still on our agenda
by Hendrik Reimers (Founder, fairafric – Ghana)
Intra-African trade is a nightmare.
Just last week, we faced this dilemma: A South African client wants to buy chocolate made from Ghanaian cocoa beans.
When the cocoa beans travel from Africa to Europe and are transformed into chocolate in Belgium and then exported to South Africa, there is a 0% duty on them.
When the cocoa is transformed into chocolate where the cocoa grew (i.e. in Ghana) and exported to South Africa, there is a duty of around 20% on the product.
So although we are saving lots of (unnecessary) transport cost and have a lower net price (and far lower CO2 footprint), at the end we are still more expensive than the chocolate Made in Europe. Europe has done an amazing job negotiating these trade agreements.
Advancing Intra-African trade is still on our agenda though.
This container that we’re offloading has come directly from Burkina Faso, bringing in Cashews (processed and packed in Burkina) for our vegan milk-like chocolates.
While this trade between two African countries is still the exception, we need more companies like fairafric pushing for trade (on equal terms) within the continent!
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The fairafric factory in Ghana produces chocolate right where the cocoa grows. Now, fairafric chocolate comes not only as CO2 neutral and in completely biodegradable packaging but also made with solar power right from our roof.