Market Prospects for Groundnut in West Africa COMMON FUND ...

5.0 West Africa: Market profiles of Senegal,
Mali, Niger and Nigeria
5.1 Introduction
This section will provide a summary of groundnut market patterns in the four
focus countries, in a sub-regional context.
As described in the Background and methodology section, a variety of
investigative methods, contact persons and documentary resources, including
published and unpublished reports, were used as a basis upon which the
following country profiles were developed.
The following is a brief account of the four focus countries using available
data. Since it was not possible to access precisely the same data for each
country, and given that some of the official data appears contradictory in
places, this should not be read as a strict comparison of the four national
groundnut sectors based on identical criteria, but rather as a general account
using all information available.
While the country profiles provide an accurate summary of each of the
four project countries, the regional picture is more difficult to ascertain.
Although fragments of the whole have been gleaned during each country
study, specific data on actual volumes traded remains patchy and
contradictory; in some cases the official figures run directly against the most
elementary economic logic.
Nonetheless, the significance of regional trade in groundnut products for
each of the countries studied cannot be missed, and regional trade patterns
between the four producer countries are clear.
Price cycle comparisons
Comparison of groundnut prices between the four producer countries is
facilitated by the fact that three of the four share a common currency, the
Franc CFA (fCFA). In the case of Nigeria, data has been presented in both
Nigerian Naira and in fCFA for comparison. It should be noted that during the
period studied (January 2002 to December 2003) the Naira lost over 41% of
its value to the CFA. However, the implications of a highly fluid official
exchange rate between Naira and CFA cannot be fully addressed here;
however, the running monthly exchange rate has been included for illustrative
reference.
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