07/06/2012 (Bloomberg) - Cargill Inc. plans to develop industrial palm-oil plantations and processing facilities in Ivory Coast within five years, according to the country’s Labor Ministry.

The company may invest as much as 200 billion CFA francs ($380 million) in the project, the ministry said in an e-mailed statement yesterday, citing Cargill’s West Africa director, Lionel Soulard.

The food and agriculture company, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is one of the biggest cocoa exporters in the West African nation, the world’s top grower of the crop.