Ivory Coast Jan-Dec rubber exports up 22pc

ABIDJAN: Ivory Coast exported 533,913 tonnes of natural rubber from January through December 2016, up almost 22 percent from the same period in the previous year, provisional port data showed on Tuesday.

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, is also Africa's leading grower of natural rubber.

Exports have risen in recent years as farmers, lured by the promise of more stable incomes, have increasingly switched from cocoa.