Côte d’Ivoire: Ratification of the Inter-African Coffee Organisation agreement imminent

The draft law paving the way for ratification of the agreement relating to the creation of the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO) was adopted by the Council of Ministers on Thursday 23 November. This text was adopted on 20 November 2020 during the organisation’s General Assembly, replacing the previous agreement dating from 1960.

The new ICAO Agreement aims to provide the best possible response to the new issues that have arisen in the coffee sector, in particular the questions of coffee quality and the sustainability of the coffee economy, which are facing the coffee-producing countries that are parties to the agreement,” the press release said.

Once the agreement has been ratified, Côte d’Ivoire should benefit from new opportunities for cooperation and sub-regional integration in the coffee economy through new bodies such as the African Coffee Development Fund and the Private Sector Consultative Board.

This advantage could enable the Ivorian coffee sector to become a little stronger on the African scene.

Côte d’Ivoire is Africa’s 3rd largest coffee producer, behind Ethiopia and Uganda, with 1.2 million 60kg bags to be produced by 2022/2023, according to figures from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

It is also the continent’s 2nd largest producer of Robusta coffee. The price of a kilogram of coffee has been set at 900 CFA francs for the 2023/2024 season, which began on 1 October, compared with 750 CFA francs a year earlier.

Yann ETERNEL