The Federation of Congo Businesses (RDC) has announced that the European Union will remove Congolese cocoa and coffee from its market starting in January 2025. This decision follows the European “zero deforestation” regulation, which prohibits the import of agricultural products from deforested areas

The DRC and the EU are no longer on good terms because of the certification of certain agricultural products. This alert on the exclusion of Congolese coffee and cocoa from the European Union market by January 2025 was launched by the Federation of Congo Enterprises, a territorial group in Beni, (East of the Democratic Republic of Congo), according to a

“Economic operators working in the cocoa and coffee export sector were surprised to receive from certification organizations and the notification of the withdrawal of the Democratic Republic of the Democratic Republic of the “Fairtrade” certification on the one hand and the other of the “BIO” certification as shown in the letters (... ) by Flocert of December 2023 and the letter of Africert of December 2024”,

“From January 2025, our products will no longer be accepted as organic and fair products on the European Union market leading to several unfortunate economic social consequences for our country” according to economic operators.