Ivory Coast exported 634,824 tonnes of natural rubber in the first 11 months of 2018, up 3 percent from the previous year, provisional port data showed on Thursday. Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, is also Africa's leading grower of natural rubber.

Exports have risen in recent years as farmers, lured by the promise of more stable incomes, have increasingly switched to rubber from volatile cocoa.

Copyright Reuters, 2019