Niche Cocoa Expands Operations Into USA

A wholly-owned Ghanaian company, Niche Cocoa Industry, has opened a cocoa processing plant in the American city of Franklin in Tennessee, as part of a global expansion drive meant to consolidate its gains and process more Ghana cocoa beans for the world market.
 
The company opened the factory on October 4 to help leverage the sizeable American market and its huge potential to develop both semi-finished and finished products cocoa products for the rest of the world.
 
The plant is a partnership between Niche Cocoa and Omanhene Cocoa Bean Co., of Milwaukee and was commissioned by the United States of America (USA) Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, Marisa Lago, officials of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), among others.
 
It marked the first time that Niche, which is the largest private sector cocoa processor in Ghana, has entered the United States of America.
 
The investment by Niche was touted by American state and federal agencies as the largest food and beverage investment by an Africa-based company in the U.S.A. and the largest Ghana foreign direct investment in American state of Wisconsin.
 
The company already has operations in Germany.
 
Mode of operation
 
A statement from Niche Cocoa said the USA operations will be based from the Franklin Business Park location, where the company would operate from a 44,000-square feet space.
It said the company would import cocoa cake, which will be pulverised to create cocoa powder for nationwide distribution.
 
It said it would also manufacture finished chocolate made with cocoa butter and cocoa liquor produced in Ghana from the country’s premium cocoa bean. 
 
Unmistakable signal
 
At the commissioning ceremony, the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade described the investment as historic, noting that it was an unmistakable signal to other companies across Africa and around the world that the USA was open for business.
“The Biden Administration is strengthening our relationships abroad to create jobs and prosperity at home.
 
“Niche’s investment here is more than just a new facility—it is an investment in American workers and in the Franklin community,” Madam Lago said.
 
She commended the Managing Director (MD) of Niche Cocoa, Edmund Poku, and the USA Department of Commerce for helping to facilitate the investment.