An analysis of the performance of the agro-food industry in the domestic and international markets of Côte d’Ivoire

Since its independence in 1960, Cфte d’Ivoire has opted for an industrial policy that has given rise to two major types of agrofood industry. The first is small-scale units owned by nationals and the second is agro-food industries owned by large international firms that mainly export their products. This strategy has led to commodity specialisation that deteriorates the terms of trade. Thus, despite a significant industrial sector, the country suffers from deteriorating trade terms due to an overly extroverted economy, the corollary of which is over-indebtedness. This paper compares the performance of domestic and international markets of Cфte d’Ivoire to identify the type of agro-food industry that should be promoted for development. The ripple effects in domestic and international markets are estimated and compared using the Leontief model and data from the Cфte d’Ivoire Input-Output Table of 2018. We show that the cocoa and coffee processing branch of the agro-food industry is commercially outward-oriented, the oilseed industry is commercially mixed or dual-oriented, and the other branches are commercially inward-oriented. The ripple effects of the domestic market are almost four times higher than those of the external market. The high rate of population growth, galloping urbanization and the social nature of food are key determinants of the findings. We conclude that the domestic market better stimulates the development of the agro-food industry. We therefore recommend a strategy of orienting products towards domestic and West African markets, which could lead the country to sustainable economic development more rapidly.