The director general of the Ivory Coast Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC) said last Friday that the regulator helped the national police seize three trucks loaded with 1,500 bags of cocoa beans at the border with Guinea.

A kilogram of cocoa currently costs between 1,600 and 1,700 CFA francs (2.63 to 2.80 dollars) in Guinea and Liberia due to rising global prices. Côte d'Ivoire and neighboring Ghana, the world's second largest producer, said smuggling was hampering their efforts to reach their annual production target. The CEO of CCC, Yves Brahima Koné, indicated that they have made a firm commitment to reduce cocoa smuggling to neighboring countries this year. “We are determined to succeed in this mission,” he said. For this fact, the regulator CCC said that collaboration with the security forces allowed the seizure of 100 tons of cocoa last week. She reported the trucks to the police, who stopped them in the town of Sipilou, 4 km from Guinea