II International Congress on Fine Flavor Cacao

FBV and REPSA helped organize the II International Congress of Fine Flavor Cacao held in La Paz, Bolivia, on 17-19 Nov 2010. More than 250 representatives and cacao producers from Bolivia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela participated in the event.

The essential message on the Congress was that domestic and international demand for Fine Flavor Cacao is rapidly growing and that producer countries in Latin America will play a large role in meeting that demand. Attendees discussed strategies for increasing their competitive edge in the international markets and shared their experiences in crafting specialty cacao.

Clay Gordon, an international chocolate expert, delivered the keynote address covering the challenges of exporting cacao to a demanding international market. Mr. Gordon appeared as a guest of REPSA and was sponsored by sweet industry participant TOMS from Denmark as part of their B2B "Fine Flavor Cacao" program in Bolivia.

Volker Lehmann, representing REPSA, and Clay Gordon, from The Chocolate Life, handed over a reward on behalf of Cocoa of Excellence 2010 to Alberto Apaza Yucra for his efforts to produce one of the top 50 cacaos of the world. This ever first acknowledgement to an individual Bolivian farmer confirms that under the guidance of the B2B program it is possible to produce Fine Flavor Cacao for international specialty markets.

Venezuela will host the next Cacao Congress in 2012. It is anticipated that even more Latin American cacao producing countries will join this historical initiative.