Xifres de comerç exterior de Costa d'Ivori

Foreign Trade in Figures

The Ivory Coast is the hub of commercial activities in West Africa. The share of foreign trade in the country's GDP is 42% (World Bank, latest available data). The country mainly exports foodstuffs, including cocoa, coconut, banana and fish, refined petroleum, gold, and rubber. The main import commodities are crude petroleum, rice, frozen fish, medicine, vehicles, and machinery.

The Ivory Coast is a member of the UEMOA (West African Economic and Monetary Union), which enforces a Common External Tariff (CET). It also belongs to the Free Trade Zone. In 2008, the Ivory Coast signed a stepping stone economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). This agreement entered into provisional application on 3 September 2016 and essentially aims at maintaining the preferential trade system that exists between the EU and the Ivory Coast. It will be replaced by the regional EU-West Africa EPA. Ivory Coast is also a signatory to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. According to Comtrade, the country's main export partner is the Netherlands, which imports 10.7% of its products, followed by the USA (6%), France (5.9%), Malaysia (5%), and Vietnam (4.9%). The Ivory Coast's three main suppliers are China (17.2%), Nigeria (13.5%) and France (10.7%), followed by the USA (5%) and India (4.3%).

The Ivory Coast has a structurally positive trade balance and this trend should continue in the upcoming years. In 2020, the country exported USD 11.9 billion worth of goods while it imported USD 10.6 billion of goods (WTO). Exports of services amounted to USD 1 billion, while imports reached USD 3.1 billion (WTO). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, exports of agriculture products (cocoa, coffee, cashew nuts, cotton, bananas and pineapples) suffered from the drop in global demand and transport disruptions while imports of capital goods and energy moderated due to softer domestic demand (Coface).