One of Ivory Coast’s two embattled presidents has read a decree over the state-owned radio which nationalises the country’s cocoa and coffee trade.

Laurent Gbagbo, internationally recognised as having lost the November 28 presidential elections, issued a decree over Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivoirienne stating that: “It’s exclusively the state that sells coffee and cacao to the producers and to the groups of producers on national territory.

“The export of products like coffee-cacao is done by the state from moral people who are chosen by the state of by an arrangement of export quality.”

The move comes less than two months after the internationally recognised winner of the elections Alassane Ouattara called for the immediate cessation of all coffee and cocoa exports.

It’s exclusively the state that sells coffee and cacao.

The Ivory Coast is the world’s largest exporter of cocoa and on March 4, cocoa futures reached a 32-year high of $3776.50 a tonne on the New York market.

The Ivory Coast stands on the brink of civil war, and the United Nations estimates the death toll to have already reached 365 people.