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ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The European Union envisages providing around one billion euros over six years to aid Ivory Coast s cocoa sector as it adapts to EU supply chain laws due to be introduced later this year, its envoy in Abidjan said on Friday. In the context of our future programming for 2021-2027, the EU is envisaging a Team Europe initiative which could mobilise up to one billion euros to accompany Ivory Coast in the transition towards sustainable cocoa production, EU Ambassador to Ivory Coast Jobst von Kirchmann said in an interview.
Kirchmann did not say when a final decision would be taken.
The second wave of the global coronavirus pandemic has hit Ivory Coast s cocoa trading and exports hard, dashing hopes of an early recovery from the first wave, the director of the country s cocoa. | January 19, 2021
And the impact is being felt thousands of miles away in the Ivory Coast.
The West African country is a major producer of the key ingredient - cocoa.
Now unsold beans are piling up, with around 100,000 tonnes stranded in the bush.
With prices fixed at a minimum $1.82 per kilo, this farmer is afraid buyers simply won t be interested.
I m scared that my cocoa will remain on my hands, he says.
The bottleneck follows a request from chocolate buyers in Europe and the U.S. for a delay in deliveries.
Companies including Mars, Hershey and Barry Callebaut all buy from the Ivory Coast.
Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached 1.165 million tonnes between Oct. 1 and Jan. 10, exporters estimated on Monday, down 6.9% from the same period last season.. | January 16, 2021