• Côte d’Ivoire spent $3.81B on food imports in 2024, up 10% from 2023

• Import volume rose 12.7% to 5M tons; rice led at $1.07B

• Fresh fish and wheat followed, costing $915M and $238M respectively

Côte d’Ivoire spent 2.161 trillion CFA francs, or about 3.81 billion dollars, on food imports in 2024, according to the latest foreign trade data published by the Directorate General of Customs.

The figure represents a 10 percent increase from the 1.964 trillion CFA francs, or 3.47 billion dollars, recorded in 2023. The total volume of food imports also rose, climbing 12.7 percent year-on-year to reach 5 million tons.

A breakdown of the data shows that rice was the largest import item in 2024. Purchases totaled 1.61 million tons and cost 609.6 billion CFA francs, or 1.07 billion dollars, accounting for about 28 percent of the country’s total food import bill.

Fresh fish ranked second, with imports reaching 732,363 tons for 518.5 billion CFA francs, or 915 million dollars. Wheat was the third-largest item, with purchases of 733,282 tons costing 134.9 billion CFA francs, or 238.3 million dollars.

Two other categories, edible meats and offal, and beverages, each recorded close to 100 billion CFA francs in import spending, or about 176.6 million dollars.

Stéphanas Assocle