Rubber growers in Ivory Coast urged the government to withdraw taxes it imposed on the industry, saying the charges may reduce purchases of the commodity.
Ivory Coast implemented last year a 3 percent tax on processing facilities for granulated rubber, and raised the levy to 5 percent earlier this year. The government also implemented a 2.5 percent tax on producers’ income and a 7,500 CFA francs ($15) monthly tax per farmed hectare (2.47 acres).
These taxes contributed to lower revenue and profit for growers and processors, and may reduce factories’ scope for buying rubber from farmers next year, Wadjas Honest, president of the Association of Natural Rubber Producers, said in an interview yesterday in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s commercial capital.
Producer Societe Africaine de Plantations D’Heveas, which is part of Sifca Group, said last month its profit for the first half of the year declined 24 percent to 8.65 billion CFA francs as prices dropped 21 percent in the same period.
“The taxes have been set when the prices were high,” Bruno Kone, a government spokesman, said today following a ministerial meeting. “Talks are under way to set up a stabiliser mechanism to support rubber producers.”
Ivory Coast produced 256,000 metric tons of rubber in 2012 and targets output of 600,000 tons by 2020, according to Apromac, a trade association. The West African nation has 16 rubber factories.
Source: Bloomberg
