Agro-industry, historical pillar

Côte d'Ivoire is the world's leading cocoa producer and a cashew nut giant. But the challenge is no longer just to produce, it is to transform. Today, 40% of cocoa and 21% of cashew are already processed locally, with a stated objective of 100% by 2030, supported by targeted tax exemption policies. In this sector, the Robust International Côte d'Ivoire factory, dedicated to the processing of cashew nuts, illustrates this dynamic by creating more than 1,000 direct jobs. The oilseed sectors are not left out, units like OLHEOL in Bouaké and COTRAF in Korhogo transform cotton seeds into oil, with a cumulative crushing capacity exceeding 345,000 tonnes per year. 

Construction materials and steel industry

The Ivorian urbanization boom is based on a materials industry that is moving upmarket. Dangote Cement embodies the modernization of the cement sector, with a significant presence in the local market. In the steel industry, SOTACI stands out as the main player with a production capacity of 150,000 tonnes of steel per year, supplying public and private infrastructure projects. Companies like POLYCHIMIE, the Société Tropicale d'Fertilizers et de Produits Chimiques (STEPC) and l'Africaine de Chimie et de Produits Mixtes (AFRICHIM), for their part, structure chemistry and plastics processing, expanding sectors in which 315 new companies were created between 2019 and 2023, generating more than 16,677 direct jobs.

Energy and extractives, new horizons

The discovery of the Baleine oil field (estimated at 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil and 3,300 billion cubic feet of natural gas) is a game-changer for the Ivorian energy industry. This deposit, the largest ever discovered in the country, brings in its wake the development of related industrial infrastructure. The extractive industries thus recorded growth of 68.3% in the first half of 2025, driven by the extraction of hydrocarbons and metal ores. At the same time, several industrial zones are emerging, in Yamoussoukro (80 billion FCFA invested), Anyama and Ferkessédougou, to better distribute the productive fabric throughout the territory.

Despite this progress, challenges remain. The Ivorian industrial sector has around 8,500 companies divided into ten branches of activity, according to the National Institute of Statistics. The government's objective is to increase the share of industry in GDP to 30% by 2030, compared to 22.7% today. To achieve this, the country is banking on strengthened public-private partnerships, the development of specialized industrial zones and an increase in the skills of the local workforce. It is these factories (from the cocoa grinder in the interior of the country to the oil refinery in the making on the Atlantic coast) which draw, stone by stone, the architecture of an industrial and sovereign Ivory Coast.