Nigeria: EU deal stalemate hits cocoa firms

NIGERIAN cocoa-processing companies say the cost of exporting their products to Europe has been inflated by 30 percent because of a stalemate in agreeing new trade terms with the EU. Nigerian cocoa butter and cake exports were charged from 4.2 percent to 6.1 percent of freight-on-board values as taxes at EU ports without an agreement, Felix Oladunjoye, executive secretary of the Cocoa Processors Association of Nigeria said yesterday from Lagos. Nigeria was the only country in west Africa yet to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement protocol on free trade by the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, he said. “It makes Nigeria-origin cocoa butter and cake less competitive in the international market.” Apart from having to export at a cost disadvantage, many of them are burdened by unserviced debts, preventing new credit lines from banks. – Bloomberg