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 ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) - On the streets of this skyscraper-lined West African metropolis, tension and rumors of an imminent return to war are always thick in the air — and so too, is the sweet smell of chocolate. Despite more than half a decade of coups, fighting and failed peace deals, a $2 billion a year cocoa industry is a booming in Ivory Coast, producing more of the raw material for chocolate than any other country on the planet.
Production has ranged between 1.2 million and 1.4 million tons annually in the last half decade, or about 40 percent of world supply. The United States is the biggest importer, buying about 70 percent of the crop.
"Cocoa is Cote d'Ivoire," said Daniel Abo, a lawmaker and vice president of the national Cocoa and Coffee Board. "It has built this country."
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