The Ivorian government is now forcing multinational companies to give up 20% of their export contracts to Ivorian operators. A measure aimed at avoiding the suffocation of Côte d’Ivoire traders who have long condemned the unfair competition of multinational companies currently in a virtual monopoly position on Côte d’Ivoire in the purchase and export of cocoa.
as reported from Abidjan, Pierre Pinto
Today in Côte d’Ivoire, the cocoa market is dominated by six large multinational companies that buy almost all raw or processed production. When a multinational company now buys 100 tonnes of cocoa on behalf of its parent company in Europe or America, it must transfer 20 tonnes to Café Cacao Council. The regulatory body will in turn appoint one or more national operators to be responsible for exporting this cargo on behalf of multinationals.
These operators in a state of suffocation, as they have virtually no export sales, will thus be able to touch the margin of the business and face fixed charges.
The Ivorian trade group, which brings together fifteen companies, welcomes this government decision, which it has been fighting for for several months. “It makes it possible to put an end to one of these multinational monopolies. The one who sells cocoa, says GNI spokesman Fabien Gueï. We want the government to go further and break the other monopoly on certified cocoa ”.
Today, only the six multinational companies sell their cocoa to large chocolate manufacturers, who often require cocoa certification without child labor or deforestation. Chocolate companies that pay bonuses to multinational companies to buy this certified cocoa more expensive from producers. GNI wants access to this market and demands that half of the 20% prescribed this week applies to certified cocoa.
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