Fine Coffee Coffee from C ô te d'Ivoire

One of the world's largest producers.

Cote d'Ivoire (Cte d'lvoire) never produces the best quality coffee, and very little coffee comes from the arabica tree. In the early 1980s, it was the third largest coffee producer in the world, producing 5 million bags a year. Even today it is the fifth largest coffee producer in the world, producing 4.4 million bags a year. Cote d'Ivoire is second only to Indonesia (6.8 million bags per year) in terms of production of Roscoff coffee.

In the 1980s, Cote d'Ivoire produced only 250 kilograms of coffee per hectare. This is partly due to poverty, but also to the ageing of coffee trees. Lack of investment and absence of a long-term business plan also affected coffee production.

The Government of Cote d'Ivoire has begun to take positive measures to reverse this situation. The National Coffee Board has been reconstituted and streamlined, and some production activities have been transferred to private companies. The Government provides minimum price guarantees to farmers who produce high-quality coffee and encourages exporters to buy directly from farmers. Currently, 80 per cent of coffee exports find a market in the European Community countries, with France and Italy being the main buyers.