This unprecedented decision by the Ivorian authorities should make national players more competitive in the face of
multinationals that dominate the sector.
This is a massive and unprecedented support from the Ivorian government for the cocoa sector. The decision was
announced on April 22 after the head of state, Alassane Ouattara, signed ordinances
containing a broader massive €380 million plan that will be used to support agricultural crops
export: cocoa, cashew nuts, coffee, rubber but also cotton. For the cocoa sector, this is before
while avoiding bankruptcies by making Ivorian players more competitive against the multinationals that dominate
the sector. The crops themselves are not currently directly impacted by the epidemic, but
exports are likely to fall due to the global economic recession.

Keeping up with international competition
Cocoa is strategic for Côte d'Ivoire, which is the world's largest producer, with 40% of
market. Brown gold accounts for 10% of Ivorian GDP and 40% of its export earnings. It supports five
million people, or about one-fifth of the population, according to the World Bank. "This support is present in the form of a subsidy of 35 FCFA (5 euro cents) per kilo of cocoa, capped at 50,000
tons per operator per campaign," government spokesman Sidi Touré said after the Council of Ministers. This represents a total of 1.75 million CFA, or 2,500 euros per trader
and by campaign. The 2019 to 2022 cocoa seasons are affected by this measure. This
The decision comes in the context where Côte d'Ivoire aims to transform 50% of its
annual production of cocoa beans, estimated at two million tonnes.
The State has also decided to set up a fund to support investment in cocoa processing, of one
amount of 10 billion CFA francs.
The Groupement des négociants ivoiriens (GNI), which brings together 15 national coffee export companies and
of cocoa, had denounced in February "the unfair competition of chocolate multinationals which could
bring about bankruptcy." "These government measures will allow structures to continue to
to exist and to make their activities prosper," said GNI Secretary General Constance Kouamé
to AFP.