Côte d’Ivoire: Food Imports Rise 10% to $4 Billion in 2024

Côte d’Ivoire is the second-largest West African country in terms of food import expenditures, after Nigeria. For 2024, the bill for these consumer goods increased further.

In Côte d’Ivoire, spending on food imports totaled 2,161 billion CFA francs ($3.81 billion) for the entire year 2024, according to the latest data compiled by the General Directorate of Customs on the country’s foreign trade.

This figure represents a 10% increase compared to the 1,964 billion CFA francs ($3.47 billion) spent the previous year. At the same time, the total volume of imports rose 12.7% year-on-year, reaching 5 million tonnes.

Breaking down the import flows, rice was the main expenditure in 2024. Customs data indicate that purchases of rice, totaling 1.61 million tonnes, cost 609.6 billion CFA francs ($1.07 billion), or roughly 28% of the country’s total food import bill.

It was followed by fresh fish, with purchases totaling 732,363 tonnes and costing 518.5 billion CFA francs ($915 million). The third-largest import was wheat, with purchases of 733,282 tonnes costing 134.9 billion CFA francs ($238.3 million).

Beyond these top three, meat and edible offal as well as beverages also stood out, each with purchases close to 100 billion CFA francs ($176.6 million).