The Minister of Agriculture of Côte d’Ivoire Cubinan Akoasi Adjorani said that his country, which classifies the largest cocoa producer in the world, may take measures to increase the price of the product if the customs duties proposed by President Trump against his country entered into force.
In a statement to the press the day before yesterday, Thursday, Adjojani said that his country wanted Washington to reconsider customs duties.
He said: “When you impose taxes on products that are exported to your country, this will make us increase the price of cocoa, and that will have repercussions on the price for the consumer.”
The Trump administration imposed 21% customs duties on Cote d’Ivoire, which is the highest among the total West African countries.
The Minister of Agriculture did not explain the quality of the measures that his country might take in response to the American customs tariffs, but Cote d’Ivoire can raise cocoa export fees to earn more revenues, which makes the product more expensive for consumers.
It is noteworthy that Côte d’Ivoire is issued annually between 200 to 300 thousand metro tons of cocoa to the United States, according to the data of the Coffee and Cocoa Council.
In the same context, the Ivorian Minister of Agriculture said that his country will seek to establish stronger relations with the European Union to ensure the marketing of its products in other countries if the United States does not accept it or make it not possible to eat.
Although Côte d’Ivoire is classified at the forefront of cocoa producers worldwide, as its production in 2023 amounted to about 2.2 million metric tons, it suffers in the current season from unprecedented challenges due to the drought that struck the region in the last period and led to the decline in crops by between 30 and 40%.
