Potential for new cocoa plantations enormous, says board

KUCHING: Malaysia might be the world’s fifth largest grinded cocoa and products exporter, however, some 99% of the raw material, the cocoa beans itself, is imported.

The tremendous shortfall is best illustrated in the great reduction in the country’s cocoa plantations, from a peak of 400,000ha in 1990 to just 11,000ha in 2012. The Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB) says the potential for new plantations is enormous, but so are the challenges.