Sep 02, 1997 Eastern

Ghana's state-owned Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) aims to build a new factory within three years to raise its bean processing capacity by 25,000 tonnes, according to a Ghanaian weekly newspaper.

Company officials declined formal comment on the plan outlined in Saturday's Weekly Spectator newspaper, which quoted remarks by CPC managing director Paul Awuah.

``These are only plans, which we intend to execute if CPC is not divested (privatised),'' one high-ranking company official told Reuters, adding that Awuah was abroad on business until mid-September.

Two existing cocoa processors, including CPC, are expected to grind a total of around 82,000 tonnes of beans in 1997 against about 66,000 in 1995, according to a mixture of donor and company estimates.

CPC owns a cocoa processing factory in Tema (PORTEM) and has a 40 percent stake in two plants in Takoradi (WAMCO), operated by German 60 percent shareholder Walter Schroeder.

CPC became a limited liability company in 1992 after being given more autonomy by Ghana's state Cocoa Marketing Board (COCOBOD) in 1992.

WAMCO expanded processing capacity to 50,000 tonnes in 1996 but expects to grind 60,000 tonnes of beans in 1997, according to its managing director.

PORTEM has also expanded processing after factory overhauls. The World Bank projects 1997 grindings at around 22,000 tonnes, against 20,000 tonnes in 1996.

The government has already said it would privatise CPC's PORTEM factory but a final decision on six bids received up to November 1995 was never taken, Divestiture Implementation Committee sources told Reuters.

CPC had a five-year plan to raise its annual profits to 68 billion cedis by the year 2001 from around 20 billion Cedis this year, the Standard report said.