COCOBOD and licensed buying companies (LCB) are at odds over outstanding payments owed to the latter.

The licensed cocoa buying companies have expressed concerns over a whopping GH¢4 billion owed to them by the country’s cocoa regulator, citing the debt’s implications on their ability to secure financing to purchase cocoa in the new season.

Speaking in response to these claims, COCOBOD acknowledged its outstanding debt obligations to the cocoa buying companies; however, it said this was not new, noting that such outstanding payments were normal since the last cocoa season ended a few weeks ago.

They said the situation is not new and does not reflect an inability to settle its debt obligations.

“So if the season ended just about a month and a half ago, it is only reasonable and logical that there possibly could be some outstanding amounts that COCOBOD would have to make to the licensed buying companies or the chamber,” COCOBOD’s Head of Public Affairs, Jerome Kwaku Sam, said while speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, September 15.

Mr Sam explained that licensed buying companies purchase cocoa on behalf of COCOBOD and subsequently submit Cocoa Takeover Receipts (CTORs) for payment.

He said the Board had prioritised payments to cocoa farmers before settling outstanding obligations to licensed buying companies.

“Our farmers as well as the licensed buying companies. So between these two stakeholders, we thought that prioritising the cocoa farmer who does the cultivation and who makes available the beans for us to give in purchase and sell ought to be prioritised,” he said.

Mr Sam said COCOBOD was now preparing to engage the licensed buying companies to address the outstanding payments.

“Plans are far advanced to meet with the licensed buying companies or the chamber to iron out all outstanding payments that we have,” he said.

According to Mr Sam, the outstanding payments are also partly due to COCOBOD’s ongoing shift from its previous financing model to a new funding arrangement, a process that has involved engagements with relevant stakeholders.

He maintained that delays in settling payments owed to licensed buying companies were not unprecedented, noting that similar outstanding balances had been carried over from one cocoa season to another in the past.

Mr. Sam referred to concerns raised by the Chamber as far back as 2023, when it reported that COCOBOD had outstanding obligations to licensed buying companies that extended into subsequent cocoa seasons.

He, however, stressed that the existence of outstanding payments should not be taken to mean that COCOBOD was incapable of meeting its financial obligations to the companies.

“I am not in any stretch of imagination saying that that should be the case, but I am only stating that if we have an outstanding like this, it does not epitomise Cocoa Board’s inability to settle its debt obligation to the licensed buying companies,” he said.

He added that COCOBOD was aware of the financial pressures facing the licensed buying companies and was working on arrangements to help them secure the financing needed to purchase cocoa in the new season.