The National Development Plan (PND) 2021-2025 aims to establish the manufacturing industry as the backbone of the structural transformation of the economy. The strategic objectives tied to this ambition include balanced regional development through the implementation of industrial clusters, enhancing the competitiveness of manufacturing industries, and increasing external trade.

To achieve these objectives, the Government has implemented actions and reforms to improve governance, productivity, and competitiveness in the manufacturing sub-sector, through:

• Developing and implementing a strategic recovery plan for struggling companies (textile sector);

• Establishing a 59-hectare area dedicated to the cement sector as part of the development of a 234-hectare plot (Phase 1) in the Akoupé-Zeudji PK24 industrial zone by Soroubat;

• Developing 127 hectares under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) by the CHEC operator in the Akoupé-Zeudji PK24 industrial zone;

• Improving quality standards and combating counterfeiting;

• Allocating 105,000 tons of cotton seeds to processors for COTRAF (125,000 tons), AITTPA (86,132 tons), and APMUT (42,606 tons) in 2022 to meet their raw material supply needs;

• Reserving the entire cottonseed production for processors during the 2022-2023 campaign, due to low cottonseed production and high installed processing capacity;

• Conducting two studies in 2022 on industrial clusters (Textile and Apparel, Automotive Assembly and Manufacturing) out of a total of seven clusters (Agro-industry, Textile and Apparel, Construction Materials, Chemical and Plastics Industry, Pharmaceutical Industry, Automotive Assembly and Manufacturing);

• Operationalizing the Industrial Infrastructure Management and Development Company, known as SOGEDI, in 2023;

• Adopting a strategic framework for the development of industrial zones in 2022.

The industrial policy has identified seven (7) industrial clusters as the foundation of industrial development, including agro-industry and six (6) other manufacturing industries: the pharmaceutical industry; construction materials, furniture, and equipment; chemical and plastic industries; textiles; vehicle assembly and spare parts manufacturing; and packaging.

To achieve this, industrial development is supported by a dynamic legal and regulatory framework. Notable examples include:

• The adoption of Law No. 2013-866 of December 23, 2013, on standardization and quality promotion, along with its two implementing decrees;

• Decree No. 2015-22 of January 14, 2015, on procedures and conditions for granting industrial land;

• Decree No. 2016-1152 of December 28, 2016, making certain standards mandatory;

• Decree No. 2017-145 of March 1, 2017, establishing the conditions for setting up an industrial unit on land outside an industrial zone;

• Law No. 2018-985 of December 28, 2018, on the regime of free zones;

• Ordinance No. 2020-687 of September 23, 2020, legalizing the tax and customs regime of the development agreement for industrial economic zones in Abidjan, Ferkessédougou, and San Pedro;

• Decree No. 2022-245 of March 30, 2022, establishing the “Industrial Infrastructure Management and Development Company,” abbreviated as SOGEDI;

• Decree No. 2022-596 of August 3, 2022, adjusting the industrial fee in the Bonoua and Grand-Bassam industrial zones;

• The law of June 12, 2024, setting the rules applicable to industrial zones and land designated for industrial activities;

• The decree of July 10, 2024, extending the terms of payment arrangements for industrial land occupancy fees for logwood processing industries.

Institutionally, the State relies on entities such as the Industrial Infrastructure Management and Development Company (SOGEDI), the Ivorian Office of Intellectual Property (OIPI), Côte d’Ivoire Standardization (CODINORM), Côte d’Ivoire Engineering, the Technology Demonstration and Promotion Center (CDT), the Ivorian Tropical Technology Company (I2T), and the National Laboratory for Testing, Quality, Metrology, and Analysis (LANEMA).

Main Strategic Indicators of the Industry Sector

 Sources: PND 2021-2025

The industry has experienced an average annual growth rate of 10.6% from 2015 to 2023. The value added by the sector increased from 4,230.7 billion FCFA in 2015 to 9,463.6 billion FCFA in 2023. Finally, the share of the industrial sector in GDP rose from 15.6% in 2015 to 19.8% in 2023.

Sources: MEPD/DGE, MCI

• Investments in the Industrial Sector

From 2019 to 2023, the total investments made in the industrial sector amount to 1,766.9 billion FCFA, distributed as follows: 69.59 billion FCFA in 2019, 68.48 billion FCFA in 2020, 156.4 billion FCFA in 2021, 457.45 billion FCFA in 2022, and 1,015 billion FCFA in 2023.

These investments have created a total of 315 companies and 16,677 direct jobs, distributed as follows: 21 companies for 1,520 jobs created in 2019, 9 companies for 394 jobs created in 2020, 28 companies for 3,116 jobs generated in 2021, 75 companies for 4,452 jobs in 2022, and 182 companies for 7,195 jobs in 2023.

Investment in the Industrial Sector

Sources: MCI/General Directorate of Industry

• Workforce of Industrial Companies

The pre-identification for the 2019 census (RGEIE-CI) conducted by ANStat reveals that the Ivorian industry counts more than 8,500 formal and informal companies. The manufacturing industry (including agro-food) represents 72.4% of the secondary sector, with the agro-food and tobacco industries (32.1%); textile and leather industries (2.4%); wood and furniture industries (14.9%); paper, cardboard, publishing, and printing industries (3.3%); petroleum, chemical, rubber, and plastics industries (15.1%); metal industries (0.3%); and the manufacturing of machinery and equipment of all kinds (4.3%).

The national directory of industrial companies in Côte d'Ivoire by ANStat counts 4,951 formal companies in 2022. These companies are distributed as follows: Manufacturing industry (89.2%), Extractive activities (7.1%), Water production and distribution, sanitation, waste treatment and pollution control (3.1%), and electricity and gas production and distribution (0.6%).

• Industrial Production

In 2023, the volume of industrial production experienced a strong increase (+6.1%) compared to 2022, driven by extractive industries (+9.4%), electricity, gas, and water production and distribution industries (+8.8%), environmental industries (+7.5%), and manufacturing industries (+4.4%). The performance of the extractive industries is explained by the vitality of the "extraction of metallic ores" division, driven by the annual production of gold, manganese, and nickel, and the "hydrocarbon extraction" division, driven by the production of crude oil following the commissioning of the Baleine field.

• The Manufacturing Industry (excluding agri-food and petroleum products)

The manufacturing industries (excluding agri-food and petroleum products) experienced an average annual growth of 7.5% from 2015 to 2023. Their value added increased from 1,399.8 billion FCFA in 2015 to 2,493.2 billion FCFA in 2023. Their share in the secondary sector is declining, dropping from 25.7% in 2015 to 20.6% in 2023.

• Automotive Assembly Sector

The assembly sector remains embryonic with sixty-two (62) companies primarily involved in the assembly of non-electrical machines and equipment. Additionally, projects for the establishment of new vehicle assembly units are developing. In 2022, the IVECO Group, in partnership with the Abidjan Transport Company (SOTRA), inaugurated a vehicle assembly unit named "Daily Ivoire." In 2023, a partnership agreement between the Government and the Ashok Leyland Group was signed to establish an assembly line for over 1,700 vehicles of 5 different types.

Furthermore, a white paper on the competitive ecosystem for the development of the automotive assembly sector was adopted by the Government on December 20, 2023.

• Chemical Sector

Products from this sector fall into various categories of intermediate goods and consumer goods. They are intended for both the local market and export. Specifically, these include agrochemical products (fertilizers and pesticides), cosmetic products (perfumes and creams), treated rubber, and plastic products (shoes, chairs, tables, etc.). In most cases, the raw materials used are imported.

The main companies are HYJAZI, SIPPEC, AF-CHEMSOFACO, CALLIVOIRE, POLYCHIMIE, STEPC, GHANDOUR, 2CI, NAJIBCO, SAI, COPACI, AFRICHIM, SADOFOSS, SAPROCHIM, THEMIS, and SOCIDA.

• The Transformation of Natural Rubber

The Government's objective is to consolidate gains and initiate a new phase of development for the sector. To achieve this, the aim is to ensure the first transformation of all natural rubber production in the short term and to reach the second transformation to generate more added value.

The total capacity for the first transformation is projected at 1,372,800 tons of dry rubber per year in 2023. The ongoing increase in capacities, supported by the 28 agreements signed between the State and natural rubber processors, projects an increase in installed capacities of 960,000 tons over the period from 2019 to 2025.

The rate of the first transformation of dry rubber into granulated rubber is 79.3% in 2023 compared to 79.8% in 2022. The rate for the second transformation is 2%.

Installed Capacity and Rubber Transformation

Sources: Conseil Hévéa - Palm Oil

• Pharmaceutical Industry

The production in the pharmaceutical industry remains low, covering about 6% of national demand. The sector comprises nine (09) local manufacturers, with CIPHARM accounting for over 60% of production. There are also three (03) wholesalers who import over 90% of national demand. This subsector, dominated by CI-Pharm since 1986, has seen the arrival of several groups, including Tridem Pharma in 2022, which has a project to build a pharmaceutical production plant at a total cost of 56 billion FCFA, and the establishment of the Chinese group Fosun Pharma (with 02 production lines for pharmaceutical products planned) and SAIPH (Arab Pharmaceutical Industries Company), whose factory construction is expected to be completed by the end of December 2023.

• Construction Materials

In the construction materials sector, there has been significant growth in cement production, averaging 10.9% annually between 2015 and 2023, with new players such as Dangote Cement CI, Lafarge Holcim CI, and CIMAF entering the market. Additionally, production capacity has increased sixfold, rising from 3.2 million tons in 2015 to 20 million tons in 2023. The number of operational industrial units increased from 05 in 2015 to 13 in 2023.

Production reached 7 million tons in 2023, compared to 3.05 million tons in 2015. The number of direct jobs generated in the sector rose to 2,300 in 2022 from 1,575 employees in 2019.

Cement imports are limited, except by government exemption (Decree No. 0049 of August 20, 1979, regarding cement import and export procedures).

Production Capacity and National Cement Production from 2015 to 2023

Sources: MCI/General Directorate of Industry

Other building materials primarily include metallic products (iron, steel, and aluminum). SOTACI is the main player in the steel industry, with a production capacity of 150,000 tons per year.

• The transformation of cotton into textiles and clothing

The government's objective is to achieve a cotton processing rate of 70% by 2025 (with 100% processing for seed cotton and 40% for fiber cotton) compared to 26.75% in 2020 (42% for seed cotton and 11.49% for fiber cotton). The aim is to make the sector more attractive and competitive across the entire value chain, in order to create numerous jobs, particularly for young people and women. To this end, a revitalization strategy for the sector was adopted by the government in 2023.

The cotton-textile and clothing sector includes agricultural production of seed cotton, ginning, spinning/weaving, finishing, oil extraction, and garment making.

The ginning activity is held by six (6) cotton companies or ginning operations located mainly in the central and northern regions of the country, with thirteen (13) functional units with a total capacity of 655,000 tons per year. These are: IVOIRE COTON with 4 units, the Ivorian Cotton Company (COIC) with 3 units, the New Ivorian Company for Textile Development (Nouvelle CIDT) with 3 units, the Cotton Exploitation Company of Olam (SECO-OLAM) with 1 unit, the Ivorian Cotton Industrial Company of the Savanes (SICOSA) with 1 unit, and Global Cotton Company (GLC) with 1 unit.

For spinning or weaving, the installed capacity of spinning/weaving units in Côte d’Ivoire is 26,000 tons per year. It is held by three (3) companies located in Bouaké, Dimbokro, and Agboville: Filature Tissage de Gonfreville (FTG), UTEXI-CI which has two (02) factories (Dimbokro and Agboville), and COTIVO.

Two companies operate in the finishing activity, located in Bouaké and Abidjan, with a total capacity of 35 million meters of fabric per year. These are: TEX-CI located in Bouaké and UNIWAX located in Abidjan.

The oil extraction sector in Côte d’Ivoire has two modern units, one medium unit, and small semi-artisanal units for extracting cottonseed oil, with a total installed capacity of 345,000 tons of cottonseed. These are: OLHEOL in Bouaké, COTRAF in Korhogo, HCI (Ivorian Oil Mill) in Bouaké, and APMUT (Association of Small and Medium Oil Extraction Units).

Finally, the garment sector is primarily composed of textile and fashion artisans, with more than 50,000 artisans and 15 industrial production units.

Production of cotton seeds and cottonseed

Sources: Cotton - Anacarde Council

• Perspectives

In the short term, the government plans to:

• implement the strategy and action plan for the development of the automotive industry (White Paper);

• implement the revitalization strategy for the cotton-textile sector;

• continue the implementation of the project to support the fight against counterfeiting and piracy (CNLC);

• continue the work of establishing industrial clusters in the textile and clothing, construction materials, packaging, chemistry and plastics, pharmaceutical industry, assembly and automobile assembly, and manufacturing of spare parts;

• adopt and implement the project to support the industrial valorization of inventions and innovations.

Growth rate of added value in the secondary sector

Sectoral growth rates (%)

Sources: MEPD/DGE

• Share of the secondary sector in GDP from 2015 to 2023

Sources: MEPD/DGE