Food Expo 2026: Ivory Coast Focuses on Industry and Local Processing

Ivory Coast held the Food Expo 2026 at the Port-Bouët Exhibition Park from October 8 to 10 to promote industry, agro-food, packaging, and local processing. Minister of Commerce Ibrahim Khalil Konaté urged stakeholders to seize business opportunities and reiterated the goal of increasing the industrial sector's share of GDP from 22.7% to 30%, highlighting that the country already processes 43% of its cocoa and 46% of its cashew nuts. He emphasized the importance of packaging, a market worth 500 billion CFA francs, as a critical part of the value chain. Priority sectors include agro-food, chemistry, textiles, construction, pharmaceuticals, automotive assembly, and spare parts manufacturing.