# Ivory Coast Cocoa Strike Passes 30 Days

> Ivory Coast cocoa farmers strike for 31 days, demanding higher prices and leadership changes.
- Title: Ivory Coast Cocoa Strike Passes 30 Days · The Rio Times
- Summary: Ivory Coast cocoa farmers strike for 31 days, demanding higher prices and leadership changes. Ivory Coast cocoa farmers led by SYNAP-CI union president Koné…
- Keywords: ivory coast, synap-ci, koné moussa, conseil du café-cacao, cocoa, farm-gate price, cocoa strike, ivorian cocoa, cocoa price, unlimited strike, news, world
- Source: The Rio Times — https://riotimesonline.com/ivory-coast-cocoa-strike-synapci-october-2026
- Author: Samuel Ncube
- Published: 2026-10-19T06:59:00+00:00
- Read time: 3 min
- Topics: ivory coast, synap-ci, koné moussa, conseil du café-cacao, cocoa, farm-gate price, cocoa strike, ivorian cocoa, cocoa price, unlimited strike, news, world
## Ivory Coast Cocoa Strike Passes 30 Days
The Ivory Coast cocoa strike called by the farmers' union SYNAP-CI is still on, with producers pledging at a rally in Daloa on Saturday 17 October 2026 to keep it going.
## Key Facts
Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa grower, has a state-guaranteed farm-gate price for cocoa each season, overseen by the Conseil du Café-Cacao.
## Why it matters
A standoff between farmers and the state in the top supplier can disturb the beans that US chocolate makers and traders buy, although no export effect is established.
## Why now
A union rally in Daloa on Saturday 17 October 2026 vowed to continue a strike that the union says began on 16 September 2026, and local outlets covered it on 18 October 2026.
## What happened
The union SYNAP-CI and its president Koné Moussa kept the strike going and set out five demands, including a new head for the Conseil du Café-Cacao.
## The numbers
The 2026-27 main-crop price is 1,200 FCFA (US$2.06) a kilogram, about 57% below the 2,800 FCFA (US$4.80) of : 2025-26, and the union wants 60% of the CAF export price guaranteed.
## What it means for you
US cocoa buyers and investors in Ivorian assets should watch for blockades or a price change, since no effect on exports has been shown.
## Still open
Whether the government or the regulator answers the demands, and how much cocoa is really being withheld from sale.
## How the strike began
SYNAP-CI held an urgent meeting of its leaders in Daloa on Sunday 13 September 2026 and gave decision makers until 16 September 2026 to act.
## The union's demands
The union's demands at the start were a higher price than 1,200 FCFA (US$2.06) a kilogram, immediate purchase of 2025-26 beans still held by farmers, and the unconditional departure of the director general of the…
## The price behind the dispute
Agriculture Minister Bruno Nabagné Koné announced the 2026-27 main-crop farm-gate price of 1,200 FCFA (US$2.06) a kilogram on 1 September 2026, about 57% lower than the 2025-26 price of 2,800 FCFA (US$4.80) a kilogram.
## The summons of the union leader
Koné Moussa was summoned to the gendarmerie's Section de recherches in Abidjan for Tuesday 13 October 2026 in a judicial inquiry whose reason has not been made public.
## Who backs the strike
Seven other producer organisations met in Divo on 11 September 2026 and backed mobilisation but refused to demand the director general's departure.
## What it means for you
Investors in Ivorian assets and cocoa traders should watch whether the dispute produces blockades or a policy change, neither of which the sources reviewed report.
## What is not known
How many farmers are actually withholding beans, and how much cocoa has reached the ports since 20 September 2026, is not established.
## The next steps
The union has told producers to keep beans from the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro, but how that would be done has not been explained.
## Key takeaway

Ivory Coast cocoa farmers led by SYNAP-CI union president Koné Moussa have struck for 31 days, demanding a 60% state guarantee of CAF export prices and removal of the cocoa regulator director general.