Ivory Coast, Biggest Cocoa Grower, Plans to Play Leading Role in Industry

Ivory Coast should consolidate its position as the world’s biggest cocoa producer and play a stronger role in the global market, a government spokesman said.

“When you are the world’s biggest producer of a commodity, your strategies should move the market,” spokesman Patrick Achi said in an interview yesterday in the commercial capital, Abidjan.

“Right now, you can’t really tell that Ivory Coast is the world’s top cocoa grower. We should really tackle this issue. We need to look at how we are going to be involved in the management of the sector.”

The West African nation is planning to reform the national cocoa industry “step-by-step” after President Alassane Ouattara appoints a new government following his May 21 inauguration, Achi said.

Cocoa shipments from the country were disrupted during a four-month power struggle as Ouattara imposed an export ban in a bid to cut off funds to former leader Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to step down after a disputed Nov. 28 election. Ouattara was sworn in at the beginning of May and the ban was lifted last month.

The economy is emerging from the crisis. Beans which were stored during the unrest are starting to be shipped out of the country.

Production Rises

Ivory Coast is expected to produce 1.34 million metric tons of beans in 2010-11, compared with 1.24 million tons in the year earlier, according to a March 28 report from the International Cocoa Organization. Global production is seen rising to 3.94 million tons, from 3.65 million tons, mainly due to increased output in Africa, the world’s largest cocoa producing region, the ICCO said.

In his election campaign, Ouattara, a former International Monetary Fund official, said he planned to create two regulatory state agencies to manage the purchase and export of coffee, cocoa, cotton and cashew nuts.

The minimum farm-gate price paid to producers should not be lower than half of the world market price offered for the commodities, and export taxes may be reduced, he said on his campaign website.

Achi said it was “too early” to say which reforms would be implemented first. Improving the quality of the crop and the revenues of farmers were priorities, he said.

“Maybe by October we will have the first part of the process, and maybe by next year the rest will be implemented with lessons drawn from other cocoa-producing countries such as Ghana and Malaysia,” he said.

After the liberalization of the national cocoa industry in 1999, Ivory Coast’s semi-private agencies stopped paying a fixed farm-gate price to coffee and cocoa growers.

The World Bank has pushed for more transparency in the industry and a reduction of taxes and levies paid by exporters.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-17/ivory-coast-biggest-cocoa-grower-plans-to-play-leading-role-in-industry.html)