Ivory Coast 2019/20 cotton output expected to hit record 510,000 T

Ivory Coast's cotton output for the 2019/2020 season is forecast to hit a record 510,000 tonnes, up from about 468,000 tonnes in the previous season, the cotton ginners' association said on Wednesday.

"The rains were good during sowing and the farmers received the inputs they needed," Christophe N'Dri, executive secretary of the association, told Reuters.

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, was also one of Africa's major cotton exporters with an annual output of about 400,000 tonnes before a 2002-2003 civil war split the country in two and halved production.

The cotton season in the West African country runs from May to April, with sowing from April to June and harvesting from October to January. Ginning and marketing take place from November to April.

The government has said it aims to achieve 600,000 tonnes of production by 2020.

(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Anna Pujol-Mazzini, Jan Harvey and Dale Hudson)