Côte d’Ivoire to have its first cocoa processing plant

The foundation stone of the first cocoa processing plant in Côte d’Ivoire was laid Thursday in the port city of San Pedro. The plant is expected to process half of the country’s cocoa production.

The plant, funded by regional financial conglomerate Atlantic Bank Group, will cost around €111 million and will stretch over 9 hectares of land.

The future plan will process 64 thousand tons of cocoa per year with plans to increase the volume to 100 thousand tons. The construction will take 24 months and the venture is expected to generate €152.4 million in term of revenues.

Côte d’Ivoire, a leading cocoa beans producer, is planning to process half of its annual production locally. The country produced 2.2 million tons in 2021.

Ivorian Premier Patrick Achi, who chaired the ceremony, said “no country can develop faster than its private sector.”

“It is because there is a dynamic private sector that the state is able to generate resources,” he added.