ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Cotton exports from Ivory Coast reached 302,975 tonnes by the end of September since the start of the year, up nearly 16 percent compared with the same period in 2012, provisional port data showed on Wednesday. Ivory Coast's annual cotton output was around 400,000 tonnes before a 2002-2003 civil war plunged the country into nearly a decade of political turmoil, halving cotton production. The crisis ended in a brief armed conflict in 2011 and attractive prices are now drawing farmers back to the sector. Ivory Coast's main port of Abidjan is also the primary point of export for cotton produced in Ivory Coast's landlocked neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso.