(Ecofin Agency) - In Côte d’Ivoire, farm-gate price for a kg of coffee will be CFA750 during the 2017/18 commercialization campaign. This was revealed in a statement released by the government at the end of the ministers’ council held yesterday in Yamoussoukro.

“This price is the same as during the 2016/17 campaign, despite a global prices drop,” the statement said.

In parallel to this announcement, Ivorian farmers should receive CFA12 billion worth of subsidies due to stabilization surpluses of the Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC).

Regarding the 2017/18 output, it should, according to the government, be lower than that of the previous season due to a severe drought recorded during the flowering and ripening (January to March 2016) periods.

Côte d’Ivoire is Africa’s third largest coffee producer. The nation which produced in 2015/16 105,601 tons of the beans wishes to process 35% of its coffee output by 2020.

Espoir Olodo