A small trading house on Samal Island
We started buying cacao from two family farms in Peñaplata. We now work with growers across the island and in Davao del Norte.
Started at a wharf, still run from one
IB Golden began when two neighbours in Peñaplata could not find a buyer who would take their cacao at a fair weight. We bought the harvest, dried it properly, and sold it to a chocolate maker in Davao City. That buyer came back the next month and asked for double.
Today we handle cacao, coffee, tablea and sampaloc from more than forty growers. Everything still passes through one warehouse near the Babak wharf, where it is weighed in front of the farmer and paid for the same day.
Four things we do not bend on
Weigh it in front of the farmer
Scales are read together and payment is handed over the same day, in cash or GCash.
Keep lots separate
Mixing hides a bad batch and loses a good farm. Every lot is tagged from the field to the sack.
Say no when it is not ready
Under fermented cacao and wet coffee get sent back. We would rather lose a week than a buyer.
One price, told early
Farmers hear the week’s price before harvest, buyers get the same figure in writing before packing.
Samal Island first, Davao del Norte next
Most of our cacao comes from Peñaplata, Kaputian and Babak. Robusta and native green coffee come from the higher barangays on the island and from smallholders in Carmen and Panabo when island supply runs short. Sampaloc is bought seasonally from backyard trees across the island.
If you grow it, come and talk to us
We buy wet and dry cacao, cherry and green coffee, and sampaloc in season. Bring a sample to the warehouse or send a photo and we will tell you the price that week, before you harvest.