- NEW YORK: Ivory Coast’s presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara is expected to announce within days the end of a ban on exports of cocoa, of which the country is the world’s leading producer, his UN envoy said.
The country’s cocoa sector is close to a return to normalcy after turmoil created by a post-election conflict between Ouattara and incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, envoy Youssoufou Bamba said.
“Mr. Ouattara, the president, will ... formally make an announcement (about lifting the ban) in the coming days,” he said at the Ivory Coast’s UN mission in Manhattan.
“We are very close to get back to normalcy in this (cocoa) sector,” Bamba said.
“The San Pedro port is secure, and as soon as the stand-off in Abidjan will be over, everything will get back to normal very very quickly.”
The export ban was imposed by Ouattara in January. That ban, combined with European Union sanctions and a crippled banking industry have brought the Ivorian cocoa industry to a virtual standstill in recent months.
Dealers estimate that around 500,000 metric tons of cocoa is stuck in Ivory Coast.