Cotton price unchanged

IVORY COAST has announced it would keep the government-mandated price for farmers’ cotton unchanged for the 2017/18 season despite low global prices. Ivorian farmers would be paid 265 CFA francs (R6.72) a kilogram when harvesting began this month, which would force the government to subsidise the payments, government spokesman Bruno Kone said. The cotton season in Ivory Coast runs from May to April, with planting beginning with the first rains in May and harvesting opening in late November. Output peaked at 450 000 tons in the 2014/15 season, but has since languished at about 300 000 tons.