Ivory Coast seizes 594 tons of smuggled cocoa products
Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, has confiscated 594 tons of smuggled cocoa as part of its efforts to curb illegal trade of this commodity, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
Fideli Sarasoro, the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council in Ivory Coast, stated that security operations which commenced at the beginning of the cocoa harvest in October have led to the arrest of 34 individuals and the seizure of heavy equipment.
The weak profits that cocoa farmers have received over the years have driven them to smuggle the crop to nearby countries where the market is less strictly regulated, allowing for higher prices.
Ivory Coast and Ghana, which together produce nearly half of the world’s cocoa, have taken steps to reduce smuggling to countries such as Liberia, Guinea, and Togo.
These measures include increasing farmers’ profits and strengthening security.
