…Face Asset Auction Over Ghc300m Debt
…As Creditor Banks Secure Green Light
By Editor
A consortium of banks is moving to seize and auction assets of Produce Buying Company (PBC), one of Ghana’s oldest cocoa purchasing firms, after a court dismissed the company’s final bid to halt debt recovery proceedings .
The Accra High Court on Monday rejected PBC’s application for a stay of execution, clearing the path for creditors to sell buildings, warehouses, vehicles and operational facilities over debts exceeding 300 million cedis (about $28 million) .
The ruling follows a January 2024 judgment authorising six commercial banks to recover 495.4 million cedis through attachment of the company’s immovable properties.
For decades, PBC has served as a critical link between rural cocoa farmers and Ghana’s export market. Its network of purchasing clerks and district offices across cocoa-growing regions has supported thousands of livelihoods Industry players warn that dismantling the company could send shockwaves through the sector.
The crisis extends beyond PBC alone. Licensed buyers across Ghana owe banks between $650 million and $750 million, according to Samuel Adimado, president of the Licensed Cocoa Buyers Association.
Speaking to The New Republic (TNR), an insider said debts accumulated because state regulator COCOBOD diverted funds to non-core activities like road construction, forcing buyers to borrow from banks to pre-finance bean purchases.
Buyers have delivered about 580,000 metric tonnes to Cocobod this season but are still awaiting payment, while 70,000 tonnes remain in the fields. “Interest keeps piling up,” Adimado said.
The banking sector, still recovering from Ghana’s 2023 domestic debt restructuring, now faces mounting exposure. John Awuah, CEO of the Ghana Association of Banks, confirmed some loans have been restructured and losses may occur, though he maintained the system remains resilient with careful management.
The court ruling creates acute timing challenges. Just three weeks ago, Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson announced sweeping reforms placing PBC at the centre of government’s cocoa revival strategy.
Cabinet has approved a new financing model prioritising domestic processing, with at least 50 percent of cocoa beans to be processed locally from the 2026/27 season. “Revamping PBC is central to our value-addition agenda,” Forson declared on February 11 .
To support the turnaround, government plans to convert about 5.8 billion cedis in legacy COCOBOD debts onto the balance sheets of the Finance Ministry and Bank of Ghana, while transferring 4.35 billion cedis in road-related liabilities to the Roads Ministry .
PBC Managing Director Seidu Yonye responded by reopening buying centres nationwide on February 18, expressing confidence in state support. “One of the options was to find out what asset we had that can take care of this debt from the banks,” Yonye told reporters. “The other aspect was an expectation of government coming to take off this burden”
Yet with the court’s dismissal of PBC’s stay application, those expectations now face legal reality. The ruling effectively empowers banks to proceed with judicial sale immediately.
Ghana’s cocoa sector has suffered two consecutive poor harvests due to disease and adverse weather. Global prices have collapsed from peaks around $12,000 per tonne in 2024 to roughly $4,000 now, due to softer demand and supply expectations.
International lenders refused to participate in the 2025/26 cocoa season after COCOBOD failed to honour over 333,000 tonnes of existing contracts. One trade consultant described it as breaking “the primary rule of global trade: your word is your bond”.
Farmers face acute distress. A purchasing clerk with 20 years’ experience captured the desperation: “From November till now, I can’t sleep. I have taken 250 bags of cocoa from farmers, and they are always at my doorstep demanding their money”.
Labour unions have welcomed the reform direction but expressed concern over staff salary reductions of 10-20 percent implemented without union consultation.
The court has spoken. Banks have secured their legal rights. The question now is whether government will act before PBC’s assets vanish under the auctioneer’s hammer.
Analysts note that once warehouses, district offices and transport fleets pass into private hands, the institutional infrastructure built over generations cannot be easily reassembled. PBC’s 2024 financial results showed the group technically insolvent with negative equity of 441.3 million cedis.
Government insists its reform agenda will proceed. But with judicial wheels already turning, time is running out for Ghana’s historic cocoa buyer.