• Côte d’Ivoire opens $235M cocoa complex, doubling Transcao’s capacity to 100,000 tons.
• Site includes storage and training center to boost local processing.
• Aims to raise value-added production and cut foreign dominance. 

On Thursday, June 26, Côte d’Ivoire’s Vice President Tiémoko Koné inaugurated a new industrial complex for state-owned company Transcao CI. Located on a 21-hectare site in the new Akoupé Zeudji industrial zone, the facility represents a total investment of 130 billion CFA francs, or $235 million. It includes a cocoa grinding unit with an annual capacity of 50,000 tons, a 160,000-ton storage warehouse, and a training center for cocoa and chocolate professions.

According to company officials, this new facility increases Transcao’s total cocoa grinding capacity to 100,000 tons, combining with its existing 50,000-ton unit in San Pedro. This expansion is also expected to help the state-owned firm strengthen its presence in the cocoa first-processing segment, currently dominated by foreign multinational corporations such as U.S.-based Cargill, Swiss-Belgian Barry Callebaut, and Singaporean Olam.

"This industrial complex reflects the President of the Republic’s vision of achieving a structural transformation of our economy by strengthening the link between production, processing, and consumption," Koné stated.

According to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ivorian processors absorbed 777,000 tons of cocoa in 2024, which represents about 44% of the country’s annual harvest of 1.76 million tons.

The drive to increase processing capacity aims to boost value creation in a sector still heavily reliant on raw exports. Data from the General Directorate of Customs revealed that Côte d’Ivoire exported 1.34 million tonnes of raw cocoa in 2023, generating 2 trillion CFA francs, or $3.5 billion. In contrast, 648,000 tons of processed cocoa exported that same year generated 1.5 trillion CFA francs, or $2.67 billion.

This article was written in French by Stéphanas Assocle,

Edited in English by Mouka Mezonlin