Cacao trade remains a Dutch specialty in Europe

RIJSWIJK – The Netherlands is by far the European Union's largest supplier of cacao butter, the commodity used for the production of chocolates and cosmetics. The Dutch imported 450 million kilograms of cacao beans from the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria in 2006 plus much more partially processed cacao. Dutch cacao products contributed over $3 billion to the country's exports, with Germany taking about 25 percent of it. France is EU's distant second largest supplier.