Cote d'Ivoire: Food Service - Hotel Restaurant Institutional Annual

FAS Abidjan, Accra finds that in calendar year (CY) 2024 (January-December), Côte d'Ivoire imported $852 million in consumer-oriented food and agricultural products, making it a key West African food export destination. The import market is dominated by the likes of France and the Netherlands but could offer worthwhile possibilities for U.S.-origin food products should high import tariffs, along with excessive value-added taxes and levies be relaxed. Côte d'Ivoire, a price-sensitive market, offers American food exporters some potential opportunities thanks to its growing middle-class and a desire to try new food items, as well as due to an expanding hotel-restaurant-institutional (HRI) sector. With $1.25 billion in Ivorian cocoa beans and cocoa paste and butter being shipped to the United States; and with imports of American food products limited by Côte d'Ivoire's high tariffs and value-added taxes to just $33 million, Ivorian cocoa shipments contribute significantly to the U.S. agricultural trade deficit.