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15 August 2000 Cote D'Ivoire: Aiglon To Open Biggest Cotton Gin In West Africa ABIDJAN, Aug 14 (Sibexnews) -- West Africa's biggest cotton gin is completed and will be operational for the 2000/01 (Oct-Sept) season, said officials from LCCI, a subsidiary of the Geneva-based group Aiglon on Monday. Situated in M'Bengue in the northern part of the Ivory Coast, the factory would be able to take care of 100,000 tons of raw cotton in a year in order to produce 45,000 tons of cotton fibre. The cost, 9.8 billion CFA Francs ($13.5 million) was financed entirely by La Compagnie Cotonnihre Ivoirienne (LCCI). Supposedly to be ready in December 1999, the plant has been postponed due to technical reasons. Ivory Coast has 10 gin plants (excluding this one) that has an average capacity of 30,000 tons each which means it has trouble processing all the local cotton production. This capacity shortage means that the raw cotton is sometimes kept for long periods of time in conditions that are far from optimal. Due to this, the quality of cotton has suffered, like in the 1999/00 season when the country has to process 40,000 tons of raw cotton, a record for Ivory Coast. Out of this, 40 percent was classified as good quality in the said period, against 75 - 80 percent in the previous seasons. With 70 percent held by Aiglon, LCCI has three other gin factories in Ivory Coast. The other 20 percent is held by France's Bollore while the remaining 10 percent is held by Ivorian investors. Besides the Ivory Coast, Aiglon has cotton interests in Benin, Togo, Senegal and Niger. In Africa, Ivory Coast is the third cotton producer after Egypt and Mali.
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