CHC

A brief history

In August 2007, Siat acquired 100% ownership of Compagnie Hévéicole de Cavally (CHC) from CDC London, who in turn acquired the company from the Government of Côte d’Ivoire in the early eighties.

The estate is located in the well-established rubber growing zone near the Ivorian border with Liberia. The estate is located 27 km from Zagné, in the prefecture of Guiglo in the region of Moyen Cavally.

CHC today

As at December 2009, CHC's operations included:

• A Nucleus estate of 7,000 ha planted of which 800 ha is immature.
• An outgrower scheme of 12,000 ha of rubber plantation of which the larger part is immature.
• A crumb rubber processing factory of 1,200 t/m capacity

Outgrower scheme

CHC also operates an outgrower scheme currently with about 1,500 registered farmers cultivating. Annual planting target is 1,000 ha/a.

Future prospects and strategy

It is envisaged that Siat would seek an additional area of land to expand the plantation by about 5,000 ha between 2010 and 2020. The development of this new area will be carried out to the highest industry standard.

Siat expects to expand the outgrower sector by about 1,000 hectares each year. In order to harness the interest in the outgrower scheme and maximize the area planted by smallholders, CHC will actively promote extension services as well as making class "A" bud wood available for smallholder plantings at subsidized prices.

Industrial investments comprising factory extension and provision of new power generation facilities started in 2009 and will continue into 2010. The existing building programme will be accelerated with the provision of a minimum of 100 houses for workers per annum together with social amenities over the next 5 years, in order to make plantation life more attractive for resident workers and their families.
Telecommunication facilities on the estate will be upgraded.

Siat’s corporate long term strategy for CHC is that after a period of consolidation, estimated to be around three years, Siat will offer for sale and list on the stock exchange of Abidjan, 40% of the shareholding to the public, giving the opportunity for smallholders, company staff and the general public of Côte d’Ivoire to participate.