Ivory Coast Financial News

Authorities in Ivory Coast's largest city are demolishing homes in low-income areas over what they say are public health concerns, leaving thousands without shelter and with nowhere to go

Cocoa futures on the ICE exchange hit four-month lows on Friday and headed for 3% losses for the week, amid a large increase in ICE-certified stocks and benign weather forecasts for West Africa. London cocoa fell 3.6% to 6,110 pounds per metric ton at 1259 GMT. Dealers noted ICE-certified stocks have shot up to their highest since early January ahead of the expiry of the front month cocoa contract later this session.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Cocoa was the best-performing commodity in 2024, outpacing even bitcoin, but that hasn’t stopped farmers from abandoning the crop. Farmers in the top cocoa-producing region of the world are reseeding their lands because of a mixture of bad weather, failed government policies—many of which were aimed at helping farmers—and a fast-moving virus that has ravaged their plants.

The European Union has agreed to delay by a year the introduction of new rules to ban the sale of products that lead to massive deforestation

Rice borders on the sacred in Sierra Leone, which has one of the world's highest consumption rates

mpox across the continent. This week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) will hold a meeting to discuss a potential emergency declaration regarding mpox. This year, nearly 27,000 mpox cases have been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with around 1,100 deaths, many among children. Congo has been particularly hard hit, with over 96 percent of cases are concentrated in the DRC, with a 160% increase in cases and a 19% rise in deaths this year.

Malaria vaccine: Ivory Coast has become the first country to deploy a malaria shot developed by Serum Institute of India Ltd., the world’s largest vaccine maker, and the University of Oxford.The first doses of the R21 immunization were administered on Monday to children in Abidjan, the commercial capital of the West African country, the developers and their partners said in a statement — the second malaria vaccine to go into use.“The new vaccine has been authorized by Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic, and many others are preparing to receive shipments," they said in the statement. A total of 656,600 doses have been received, which will initially vaccinate 250,000 children from newborns to 23 months across 16 regions of Ivory Coast.The vaccine was recommended in 2023 by the World Health Organization for use in Africa for children under five years old, the age group there that bears the brunt of a disease that kills more than 600,000 people per year.

high efficacy" malaria vaccine co-developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and the University of Oxford was officially rolled out on Monday when Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa became the first country to begin administering R21/Matrix-M. The vaccine, which was granted World Health Organisation (WHO) approval last year, is said to have undergone a rigorous regulatory process and clinical assessment and was found to be highly effective and affordable. As a low-dose vaccine, it can be manufactured at speed and scale which is seen as critical to stemming the spread of the mosquito-borne disease. «Reducing the malaria burden is finally within sight. Today's start of the R21/Matrix-M vaccine roll-out marks a monumental milestone after years of incredible work with our partners at Oxford and Novavax,» said SII CEO Adar Poonawalla. «At Serum, we believe that it is every person's right to have access to affordable and essential disease prevention. That's why we have committed to producing 100 million doses of R21, which will protect millions of lives and alleviate the burden of this deadly disease for future generations,» he said.

Ghana at first looks like a series of linked hearts, but on closer inspection, I notice a stylised bird. I learn that this is the Sankofa, a mythical bird from their culture that flies forward while looking backward, with an egg held in its mouth. The word Sankofa derives from the Akan people, a West African ethnic group that resides in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The Akan, over centuries, developed a highly artistic and communicative system of ideographic and pictographic symbols, each representing a specific concept or proverb rooted in the Akan experience.... Their beliefs were handed down mostly orally through proverbs and stories, or through pictorial symbols. A proverb from which the concept and meaning of Sankofa is derived declares, 'It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.' It speaks of bringing good from the past into the present and progress through the benevolent use of knowledge.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday predicted «history being made» at the Swiss-hosted conference that aims to plot the first steps toward peace in Ukraine even though experts and critics don't expect any major breakthroughs because Russia isn't attending. The presidents of Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Somalia joined dozens of Western heads of state, other senior government leaders and high-level envoys at the meeting, in the hopes that Russia could join in one day.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the new head of Liberia's forest management authority, Rudolph Merab, said he would work to increase timber exports and cut regulations

cocoa prices soaring 140 per cent since the start of the year have caused speculations that chocolate might vanish due to climate change or other crises. But we have been here before. Back in November 2014, I wrote in ET about chocolate companies predicting potential shortfalls of a million tonnes of cocoa by 2020. And four years before, in 2010, Anthony Ward, a UK-based commodity trader briefly cornered the market by acquiring 240,000 tonnes of cocoa, driving up prices to a 33-year high. It got him dubbed ‘Chocfinger’, after the James Bond villain Goldfinger who tried to corner gold. Chocolate’s real problem is that it is particularly vulnerable to market manipulation. Cacao beans only grow in a narrow band along the equator. The main producers, like Ivory Coast and Ghana, have had to deal with climate change and diseases, but the biggest issue is that the production is done by thousands of small farmers who lack leverage over the market. Price rises barely benefit them. This is why the production of cocoa has struggled to take off in India. In 1957, The Times of India reported that cacao imports cost the country ₹seven lakh per annum: “Consequently a few enterprising planters are experimenting on introducing the plant to India.”

Cocoa and coffee futures reached new highs on mounting concerns of extreme weather, while aging trees in Africa cocoa crops and Vietnam coffee areas added to concerns. “Speculators are drawing parallels between cocoa and coffee, which is a bit surprising,” Rabobank analyst Carlos Mera said, adding that trees getting older in Vietnam is one of the reasons coffee production in the country is not expanding. New York cocoa futures rose to the highest in data going back to the 1960s, extending a rally driven by declining production in top-growers Ivory Coast and Ghana. Gains for most-active contract accelerated after prices broke the $10,000 mark, a level that hasn’t been seen since almost two weeks ago.

New Delhi's decision to post military and defence attaches to several new countries reflects India's changing assessments of strategic interests. Countering China, safeguarding critical gateways and increasing export of Indian military hardware is behind the choice of these new outposts that include several countries in Africa, East Europe and Asia Pacific. Now, GoI must ensure that defence personnel in missions abroad aren't limited to procurement, trade and training, as defence is an essential component of strategic relations. A better understanding of a defence attache's role is a must for the most optimum outcome.

chocolates. Bills at quick service and fine-dining restaurants may rise 5-8% starting this month as prices of cocoa, coffee, palm oil and sugar have surged over the past quarter. This will be the first such increase in about 1.5 years, said industry executives and restaurateurs. Prices of cocoa and coffee are at all-time highs and palm oil has risen 10% Y-o-Y. Executives at a dozen restaurant and cafe chains said they are evaluating price hikes this month itself. Aseem Grover, owner of the upscale The Big Chill Cafe and dessert chain The Big Chill Cakery, is monitoring costs carefully.

Easter baskets this year. Chocolate eggs and bunnies are more expensive than ever as changing climate patterns eat into global cocoa supplies and the earnings of farmers in West Africa. About three-quarters of the world's cocoa — the main ingredient in chocolate — are produced on cacao trees in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon. But dusty seasonal winds from the Sahara were severe in recent months, blocking out the sunlight needed for bean pods to grow. The season prior, heavy rainfall spread a rotting disease. With exports from the Ivory Coast, the world's top producer, down by a third in recent months, the global price of cocoa has risen sharply. Cocoa futures have already doubled this year, trading at a record high of more than $10,000 per metric ton in New York on Tuesday after rising more than 60% the previous year. Farmers who harvest cacao beans say the increases aren't enough to cover their lower yields and higher production costs.

NEW DELHI : Chocolates could get more expensive, smaller (although perhaps not noticeably, a typical shrinkflation trait), or simply have less cocoa in them in a few months if cocoa prices aren’t tamed by then. These are the primary options chocolate and candy makers as well as those selling cookies and ice creams are weighing after global cocoa prices touched record highs earlier this week. India imports a significant volume of the primary ingredient that goes into making chocolates.

Shoppers may get a bitter surprise in their Easter baskets this year

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The head of the African Development Bank is calling for an end to loans given in exchange for oil or critical minerals used in smartphones and electric car batteries

Canadians might have to pay more for chocolate and candies this Easter as manufacturers feel the crunch of high cocoa prices, which peaked earlier this month.