Exclusive: U.S. investigates child labour in Ivory Coast cocoa supply chains

FILE PHOTO: A farmer opens a cocoa pod at a cocoa farm in Ivory Coast, December 6, 2019. REUTERS/Thierry Gouegnon/File Photo

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - U.S. customs authorities have asked cocoa traders to report where and when they encounter child labour in their supply chains in top grower Ivory Coast, three industry sources said, following calls from American lawmakers to ban some imports.

Cocoa traders and chocolate companies including Mars, Hershey , Cargill and Barry Callebaut , have repeatedly missed internationally agreed targets for reducing the worst forms of child labour from supply lines in West Africa, all sides have acknowledged.