ABIDJAN, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast announced on Friday that it would keep the government-mandated price for farmers’ cotton unchanged for the 2017/18 season despite low global prices.

Ivorian farmers will be paid 265 CFA francs ('$'0.4723) per kilogramme when harvesting begins this month, which will force the government to subsidise the payments, government spokesman Bruno Kone told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

The cotton season in Ivory Coast runs from May to April, with planting beginning with the first rains in May and harvesting opening in late November.

Output peaked at 450,000 tonnes in the 2014/15 season but has since languished at about 300,000 tonnes.