Sao Tome and Principe netted around 99 billion dobras (US$5.1 million) from cocoa exports in 2012, the archipelago’s National Statistics Institute (INE) said Thursday in Sao Tome.

INE also said that the income generated was an increase of 4 percent in nominal terms in dobras mainly due to an increase in sales of organic cocoa on the international market.

In terms of quantity, Sao Tome and Principe’s cocoa producers exported 2,229 tons as compared to 2,218 tons in the previous year, which was an increase of 0.5 percent.

Noting that cocoa accounted for 92 percent of agricultural exports, INE said that the remaining 8 percent was made up of coconut, which provided revenue of US$110,000, coconut oil, flowers and plants.

In 2012 the three main cocoa exporting companies were Cooperativa Exportação de Cacau Biológico (Cecab), followed by Sociedade Agro-Comercial (Agricon) and Sociedade de Comércio, Gestão e Investimento (CGI), and most of the cocoa was exported to Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Despite some attempts to find oil, cocoa remains the basis of the Sao Tome and Principe economy and the country depends on foreign aid for over 80 percent of its financial needs. (macauhub)