ABIDJAN, April 26 (Reuters) – Ivory Coast exported 177,407 tonnes of natural rubber in the first three months of 2018, up more than 8 percent from the same period a year earlier, provisional port data showed on Thursday.
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 to rubber from volatile cocoa.
Following are port figures in tonnes:
| Mar 2018 | Feb 2018 | Mar 2017 | |
| Abidjan | 35,533 | 44,653 | 31,523 |
| San Pedro | 19,104 | 19,003 | 20,646 |
| Total | 54,637 | 63,656 | 52,169 |
| Cumulative from Jan | 177,407 | 122,770 | 163,643 |
NOTE: March data for Abidjan is provisional and subject to revision.
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly Editing by David Goodman)
