KOTA KINABALU: The government aims to improve Malaysia’s trade balance for the cocoa industry, starting with Sabah, says Datuk Chan Foong Hin.
The Plantation and Commodities Deputy Minister said that the state has always been a main producer of cocoa beans.
He said 3,444ha of land had been allocated for cocoa farming in Sabah in 2023, which constituted some 57.5% of the total land set aside for cocoa planting nationwide.
“This year, the Malaysian Cocoa Board will implement the Cocoa Farm Rehabilitation Project whereby Sabah will be allocated RM5mil to recover 1,344ha of existing areas for cocoa farming, which 2,084 farmers are running,” he said on Friday (Jan 5).
“The programme is meant to improve cocoa yields through incentivised farming input as well as application of the latest technology in cocoa farm management,” he added.
Chan said this during his maiden working visit to the cocoa board head office at Wisma Sedco.
The Deputy Minister said the industry still has the potential to grow exponentially from an upstream to a downstream sector, considering Malaysia is one of the main cocoa product exporters in the world.
He noted that cocoa was among the main crop commodities contributing to the country’s export income.
“In 2022, the cocoa industry contributed RM7.82bil of exports, while from January to November last year, RM7.4bil of exports were recorded.
“However, the trade balance for the cocoa industry in 2022 was only RM1.72bil and RM20mil (as of November) in 2023 due to the dependence on imported cocoa beans.
“Hence, it is my aspiration for all of us to work together to develop the cocoa industry, particularly in Sabah, so that we can improve the trade balance for the years to come,” Chan said.
He said the downstream sector for the cocoa industry in Sabah presently involved four chocolate and confectionery factories, as well as 32 local chocolate entrepreneurs.
In 2022, chocolate businesses registered a total of RM792,351 in sales, which increased to RM851,928 from January to September last year.
