Côte d’Ivoire may produce less cocoa than expected this season. Reuters reports that by March the output could be 1.32 million tons. This volume is slightly below the initial expectations (1.45 million tons) and down by 12% compared with the previous campaign. According to a group of 13 exporters and pod counters interviewed by Reuters, this decline in production is due to the...

On February 19, the cotton and cashew council (CCA) of Côte d’Ivoire announced a set of measures to fight the illegal transit of cashew to neighboring countries. “From now on, no vehicle carrying cashew or cargo turned away at the entrance of the port stores will cross borders,” the council indicated in a memo addressed to the sector’s operators. Moreover, the regulator...

The construction of an electrical line connecting Guinea and Mali was launched yesterday Feb. 22. “The transmission line should foster the energy distribution at the national scale (ed :in Guinea). It will also, through the country’s hydro potential, transform it into a power producer and exporter within ECOWAS,” said Mamady Kakoro, the project manager. The facility...

On Feb. 22, B2Gold announced a positive initial estimate of the inferred mineral resource on Toega mine, its project in Burkina Faso. According to the estimate, the mine contains 17, 530, 000 tons of inferred 2.01g/t gold. This equals 1.13 million oz. To make the estimates, the company compiled the results on 165 drills totaling 37,776 meters.  During the drilling, the company intersected...

  Impact Partner will set an investment fund worth between TND500, 000 and TND2 million ($208,300 and $833,192). This was announced by Leila Charfi (photo), the firm’s managing director. The firm which provides companies with financing and technical support to improve their financial profitability targets SMEs through this new initiative.  With this, Impact Partner expects...

The 2018-2019 budget allocated to the South African ministry of defense is R47.9 billion (about $4.10 billion) compared to the 2017-2018 budget which was R48.9 billion ($4.18 billion). There is a slight decrease, according to defenseweb. In the budget nomenclature released on Feb. 21 by the finance minister, Malusi Gigaba, the defense ministry plans to maintain its workforce (75,500...

For the first time in its history, Côte d’Ivoire will elect senators on March 24, 2018. This was revealed by a statement of the ministerial council published on February 21, 2018. During these elections, 66 Senators will be elected by Ivorians. According to the document published by the minister of communications, Bruno Nabagné Koné (photo), all the 31 regions in the country will have...

Burkina Faso is looking for a new partner to operate Tambao mine, one of the largest manganese deposit in the world, Bloomberg reports. Following the regime change in 2015, Pan African Minerals, run by Frank Timis was asked to stop operating the mine. Subsequently, the company filed a case before the international court of arbitration in Paris to pursue operations and received...

African countries, especially those highly dependent on hydroelectricity should diversify power sources. This was stated by experts during a conference which started yesterday Feb. 21, in Johannesburg.  In the recent years, some African countries were hit by harsh dry spells that affected food security and power supply. In Zambia, for instance, it caused a power deficit of 1000 MW in 2016...

In 2017, Rwanda generated Rwf72.6 billion ($85.4 million) from tea exports. Compared to the revenues generated in the previous year, this represents an increase by 9%. According to the National Agricultural Export Board (NAEB), this progress which exceeds authorities’ expectation ($78 million) is due to an increase in the volume processed and the price offered for it on the international...