West Africa
Ivory Coast to Double Cocoa-Auction Charges to Curb Speculation
Millions of West Africans to benefit from ban on toxic fuel imports
Five West African countries have agreed to stop importing toxic fuels from Europe in a move that could improve the health of more than 250 million people , according to the United Nations . Nigeria , Benin , Togo , Ghana , and Ivory Coast have pledged to introduce strict standards to ensure they use cleaner , low-sulphur fuels for their vehicles , effectively stopping Europe from exporting its dirty fuels , the U . N . Environment Programme ( UNEP ) said . European trading firms have been exploiting weak regulations in West Africa to export fuels with levels of sulphur up to 300 times higher than is permitted in Europe , campaign group Public Eye said in a report published in September .
Public Eye described the issue as a " ticking time bomb " as cities grow across Africa and populations boom in major hubs including Nigeria ' s Lagos and Ghana ' s Accra . " West Africa is sending a strong message that it is no longer accepting dirty fuels from Europe ... they are placing the health of their people first ," said UNEP head Erik Solheim .
" Air pollution is killing millions of people every year and we need to ensure that all countries urgently introduce cleaner fuels and vehicles to help reduce the shocking statistics ," Solheim said in a statement released in early December . Sulphur is responsible for deadly heart and lung diseases , health experts say . The five countries have also agreed to upgrade the operations of their national refineries - public and privately owned - to improve the quality of their fuel by 2020 , UNEP said . Nigeria ' s environment minister Amina Mohamed said the agreement would massively improve the air quality in its cities and allow the country to set modern vehicle standards .
" For 20 years Nigeria has not been able to address the vehicle pollution crisis due to the poor fuels we have been importing ," Mohamed said in a statement . A combination of low-sulphur fuels and advanced vehicles emissions standards can reduce harmful emissions by up to 90 percent , according to the UNEP .
Outside of West Africa , Kenya , Tanzania , Uganda and Morocco have all increased fuel quality requirements in recent years . But better quality drives up costs , and with many nations facing severe shortages in public finances , they are wary of angering people with higher pump prices , analysts say . – TRF
Ivory Coast , the world ’ s biggest cocoa producer , will double the deposit needed to buy beans for delivery next season as part of measures to curb speculation in the chocolate ingredient , people familiar with the situation said .
The industry body , known as Le Conseil du Cafe-Cacao , will raise the deposit to 5 percent of the fixed export price , according to people familiar with matter who asked not to be identified because they aren ’ t allowed to speak to the media . It will also increase to at least 400,000 metric tons the amount of beans auctioned to international companies that don ’ t have a presence in the West African nation . That ’ s up from about 220,000 to 250,000 tons now .
Beans bought under such contracts will be shipped by local exporters appointed by the regulator and who are members of the International Traders ’ Association known by its French acronym GNI , the national union of cocoa-export cooperatives known as UNACOOPEXCI and the cocoa economic-interest group known as GIE , the people said .
Cocoa has dropped 28 percent this year in New York to the lowest in more than three years . In London , it ’ s declined to the lowest since May 2014 partly as funds pulled out of the market in expectation of increased output in West Africa , which accounts for about 70 percent of global production . Ivory Coast wants to prevent smaller exporters from buying beans directly through the auction system , the people said , without providing more information .
10 Business Times Africa 2016